American  £tategmen 


LIFE    OF  HENRY  CLAY 


BY 


CARL   SCHURZ 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  I. 

\~B  R  "A" 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 
(€&e  fitoerm&e  $res 
1896 


Copyright,  1887, 
Br  CARL  SCHUKZ. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass     U.  S  A 
Electrotype*  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Company, 


E 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


3HO 

CuSat 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  YOUTH       .        .        .        ...        .        .  .        1 

II.  THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER     ....  13 

III.  BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS          .        .        .  .27 

IV.  BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION       .        .  38 
V.  THE  WAR  OF  1812           .         .         .        .  .67 

VI.  GHENT  AND  LONDON    .         .        ...  102 

VII.  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES     .  .    126 

VIII.  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE          .        .        .  172 

IX.  CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY  .        .  .    203 

X.  PRESIDENT-MAKER        .         .         .                 .  236 

XI.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 258 

XII.  THE  PARTY  CHIEFS      .         .         ...  311 

XIII.  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1832  350 


HENRY  CLAY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

YOUTH. 

FEW  public  characters  in  American  history  have 
been  the  subjects  of  more  heated  controversy  than 
Henry  Clay.  There  was  no  measure  of  detraction 
and  obloquy  to  which,  during  his  lifetime,  his  op 
ponents  would  not  resort,  and  there  seemed  to  be 
no  limit  to  the  admiration  and  attachment  of  his 
friends.  While  his  enemies  denounced  him  as  a 
pretender  and  selfish  intriguer  in  politics  and  an 
abandoned  profligate  in  private  life,  his  supporters 
unhesitatingly  placed  him  first  among  the  sages  of 
the  period,  and,  by  way  of  defense,  sometimes  even 
among  its  saints.  The  animosities  against  him 
have,  naturally,  long  ago  disappeared;  but  even 
now,  more  than  thirty  years  after  his  death,  we 
may  hear  old  men,  who  knew  him  in  the  days  of 
his  strength,  speak  of  him  with  an  enthusiasm  and 
affection  so  warm  and  fresh  as  to  convince  us  that 
the  recollection  of  having  followed  his  leadership  is 
among  the  dearest  treasures  of  their  memory.  The 

remarkable  fascination  he  exercised  seems  to  have 
l 


2  HENRY  CLAY. 

reached  even  beyond  his  living  existence.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  biogra 
phers,  most  of  whom  were  his  personal  friends, 
should  have  given  us  an  abundance  of  rhapsodic 
eulogy,  instead  of  a  clear  account  of  what  their 
hero  thought  on  matters  of  public  interest,  of  what 
he  did  and  advised  others  to  do,  of  his  successes 
and  his  failures,  and  of  the  influence  he  exercised 
in  shaping  the  development  of  this  Republic. 
This,  indeed,  is  not  an  easy  task,  for  Henry  Clay 
had,  during  the  long  period  of  his  public  life,  cov 
ering  nearly  half  a  century,  a  larger  share  in  na 
tional  legislation  than  any  other  contemporary 
statesman,  —  not,  indeed,  as  an  originator  of  ideas 
and  systems,  but  as  an  arranger  of  measures,  and 
as  a  leader  of  political  forces.  His  public  life  may 
therefore  be  said  to  be  an  important  part  of  the 
national  history. 

Efforts  have  been  made  by  enthusiastic  admir 
ers  to  find  for  him  a  noble  ancestry  in  England, 
but  with  questionable  success.  We  may  content 
ourselves  with  saying  that  the  greatness  of  his 
name  rests  entirely  upon  his  own  merit.  The  fam 
ily  from  which  he  sprang  emigrated  from  Eng 
land  not  long  after  the  establishment  of  the  col 
ony  of  Virginia,  and  settled  on  the  southern  side 
of  the  James  River.  His  biographers,  some  of 
whom  wrote  under  his  own  supervision,  agree  in 
the  statement  that  Henry  Clay  was  born  on  April 
12, 1777,  in  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  in  a  neigh 
borhood  called  the  "  Slashes."  His  father,  John 


YOUTH.  6 

Clay,  was  a  Baptist  clergyman,  of  sterling  char 
acter,  of  great  dignity  of  deportment,  much  es 
teemed  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  "  remarkable  for 
his  fine  voice  and  delivery."  The  pastor's  flock 
consisted  of  poor  people.  A  rock  in  South  Anna 
River  has  long  been  pointed  out  as  a  spot  "  from 
which  he  used  at  times  to  address  his  congrega 
tion."  Henry  Clay's  mother  was  a  daughter  of 
George  Hudson,  of  Hanover  County.  She  is  said 
to  have  been  a  woman  of  exemplary  qualities  as  a 
wife  and  a  mother,  and  of  much  patriotic  spirit. 

The  Reverend  John  Clay  died  in  1781,  when 
Henry  was  only  four  years  old,  and  there  is  a  tra 
dition  in  the  family  that,  while  the  dead  body  was 
still  lying  in  the  house,  Colonel  Tarleton,  com 
manding  a  cavalry  force  under  Lord  Cornwallis, 
passed  through  Hanover  County  on  a  raid,  and 
left  a  handful  of  gold  and  silver  on  Mrs.  Clay's 
table  as  a  compensation  for  some  property  taken 
or  destroyed  by  his  soldiers  ;  but  that  the  spirited 
woman,  as  soon  as  Tarleton  was  gone,  swept  the 
money  into  her  apron  and  threw  it  into  the  fire 
place.  It  would  have  been  in  no  sense  improper, 
and  more  prudent,  had  she  kept  it,  notwithstand 
ing  her  patriotic  indignation  ;  for  she  was  left  a 
widow  with  seven  children,  and  there  was  only  a 
very  small  estate  to  support  the  family. 

Under  such  circumstances  Henry,  the  fifth  of 
the  seven  children  of  the  widow,  received  no  better 
schooling  than  other  poor  boys  of  the  neighbor 
hood.  The  schoolhouse  of  the  "  Slashes  "  was  a 


4r  HENRY  CLAY. 

small  log-cabin  with  the  hard  earth  for  a  floor,  and 
the  schoolmaster  an  Englishman  who  passed  under 
the  name  of  Peter  Deacon,  —  a  man  of  an  uncer 
tain  past  and  somewhat  given  to  hard  drinking, 
but  possessing  ability  enough  to  teach  the  children 
confided  to  him  reading,  writing,  and  elementary 
arithmetic.  When  not  at  school  Henry  had  to 
work  for  the  support  of  the  family,  and  he  was 
often  seen  walking  barefooted  behind  the  plough, 
or  riding  on  a  pony  to  Daricott's  mill  on  the  Pa- 
munkey  River,  using  a  rope  for  a  bridle  and  a  bag 
filled  with  wheat  or  corn  or  flour  as  a  saddle. 
Thus  he  earned  the  nickname  of  "  the  mill-boy  of 
the  Slashes,"  which  subsequently,  in  his  campaigns 
for  the  presidency,  was  thought  to  be  worth  a  good 
many  votes. 

A  few  years  after  her  first  husband's  death,  the 
widow  Clay  married  Captain  Henry  Watkins,  a 
resident  of  Richmond,  who  seems  to  have  been  a 
worthy  man  and  a  good  step-father  to  his  wife's 
children.  To  start  young  Henry  in  life  Captain 
Watkins  placed  him  as  a  "  boy  behind  the  counter  " 
in  the  retail  store  kept  by  Richard  Denny  in  the 
city  of  Richmond.  Henry,  who  was  then  fourteen 
years  old,  devoted  himself  for  about  a  year  with 
laudable  diligence  and  fidelity  to  the  duty  of  draw 
ing  molasses  and  measuring  tape,  giving  his  leisure 
hours  to  the  reading  of  such  books  as  happened  to 
fall  into  his  hands.  But  it  occurred  to  Captain 
Watkins  that  his  step-son,  the  brightness  and  activ 
ity  of  whose  mind  were  noticed  by  him  as  well  as 


YOUTH.  5 

others,  might  be  found  fit  for  a  more  promising 
career.  He  contrived  through  the  influence  of  his 
friend  Colonel  Tinsley,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  to  obtain  for  young  Henry  a  place  in  the 
office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery, 
that  clerk  being  Mr.  Peter  Tinsley,  the  Colonel's 
brother.  There  was  really  no  vacancy,  but  the 
Colonel's  patronizing  zeal  proved  irresistible,  and 
Henry  was  appointed  as  a  supernumerary. 

To  Roland  Thomas,  the  senior  clerk  of  the  office, 
who  lived  to  see  and  admire  Henry  Clay  in  his 
greatness,  we  are  indebted  for  an  account  of  the 
impression  produced  by  the  lad  as  he  appeared  in 
his  new  surroundings.  He  was  a  rawboned,  lank, 
awkward  youth,  with  a  countenance  by  no  means 
handsome,  yet  not  unpleasing.  His  garments,  of 
gray  "  figinny  "  cloth,  were  home-made  and  ill-fit 
ting,  and  his  linen,  which  the  good  mother  had 
starched  for  the  occasion  to  unusual  stiffness,  made 
him  look  peculiarly  strange  and  uncomfortable. 
With  great  uneasiness  of  manner  he  took  his  place 
at  the  desk  where  he  was  to  begin  copying  papers, 
while  his  new  companions  could  not  refrain  from 
tittering  at  his  uncouth  appearance  and  his  blush 
ing  confusion.  But  they  soon  learned  to  respect 
and  also  to  like  him.  It  turned  out  that  he  could 
talk  uncommonly  well  when  he  ventured  to  talk 
freely,  and  presently  he  proved  himself  the  bright 
est  and  also  the  most  studious  young  man  among 
them.  He  continued  to  "  read  books  "  when  the 
hours  of  work  were  over,  while  most  of  his  coin- 


6  HENRY   CLAY. 

panions  gav£  themselves  up  to  the  pleasures  of  the 
town. 

Then  the  fortunate  accident  arrived  which  is 
so  frequently  found  in  the  lives  of  young  men  of 
uncommon  quality  and  promise.  He  began  to  at 
tract  the  attention  of  persons  of  superior  merit. 
George  Wythe,  the  Chancellor  of  the  High  Court 
of  Chancery,  who  often  had  occasion  to  visit  Peter 
Tinsley's  office,  noticed  the  new-comer,  and  se 
lected  him  from  among  the  employees  there  to  act 
as  an  amanuensis  in  writing  out  and  recording  the 
decisions  of  the  court.  This  became  young  Clay's 
principal  occupation  for  four  years,  during  which 
his  intercourse  with  the  learned  and  venerable 
judge  grew  constantly  more  intimate  and  elevat 
ing.  As  he  had  to  write  much  from  the  Chan 
cellor's  dictation,  the  subject-matter  of  his  writing, 
which  at  first  was  a  profound  mystery  to  him, 
gradually  became  a  matter  of  intelligent  interest. 
The  Chancellor,  whose  friendly  feeling  for  the 
bright  youth  grew  warmer  as  their  relations  be 
came  more  confidential,  began  to  direct  his  read 
ing,  at  first  turning  him  to  grammatical  studies, 
and  then  gradually  opening  to  him  a  wider  range 
of  legal  and  historical  literature.  But  —  what  was 
equally,  if  not  more  important  —  in  the  pauses  of 
their  work  and  in  hours  of  leisure,  the  Chancellor 
conversed  with  his  young  secretary  upon  grave 
subjects,  and  thus  did  much  to  direct  his  thoughts 
and  to  form  his  principles. 

Henry  Clay  could  not  have  found  a  wiser  and 


YOUTH.  1 

nobler  mentor.  George  Wythe  was  one  of  the  most 
honorably  distinguished  men  of  a  period  abound 
ing  in  great  names.  Born  in  1726,  he  received  his 
education  at  William  and  Mary  College.  At  the 
age  of  thirty  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  and 
practice  of  the  law,  and  rose  quickly  to  eminence 
in  the  profession.  In  1758  he  represented  the 
college  in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  In  1764  he 
drew  up  a  remonstrance  against  the  Stamp  Act, 
addressed  to  the  British  Parliament.  As  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Congress  of  1776  he  was  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  For 
ten  years  he  taught  jurisprudence  at  William  and 
Mary.  He  aided  Jefferson  in  revising  the  laws 
of  Virginia.  In  1777  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of 
the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  and  in  1786  became 
Chancellor.  He  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  framed  the  federal  Constitution,  and  one 
of  its  warmest  advocates  in  the  Virginia  Conven 
tion  which  ratified  it.  But  he  achieved  a  more 
peculiar  distinction  by  practically  demonstrating 
the  sincerity  of  his  faith  in  the  humane  philosophy 
of  the  age.  In  his  lifetime  he  emancipated  all 
his  slaves  and  made  a  liberal  provision  for  their 
subsistence.  There  were  few  men  in  his  day  of 
larger  information  and  experience,  and  scarcely 
any  of  higher  principle.  Nor  was  Henry  Clay  the 
only  one  of  his  pupils  who  afterward  won  a  great 
name,  for  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Marshall 
had  been  students  of  law  in  George  Wythe's  office. 
When  young  Clay  had  served  four  years  as  the 


8  HENRY   CLAY. 

Chancellor's  amanuensis,  his  mind  was  made  up 
that  he  would  become  a  lawyer.  He  entered  the 
office  of  Robert  Brooke,  the  Attorney-General  of 
Virginia,  as  a  regular  law  student,  spent  about  a 
year  with  him,  and  then  obtained  from  the  judges 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  a  license  to  practice  the 
profession.  This  was  quick  studying,  or  the  li 
cense  must  have  been  cheap,  unless  we  assume 
that  the  foundations  of  his  legal  knowledge  were 
amply  laid  in  his  intercourse  with  Chancellor 
Wythe. 

But  in  the  mean  time  he  had  also  been  intro 
duced  in  society.  Richmond  at  that  time  possessed 
less  than  5,000  inhabitants,  but  it  was  the  most  im 
portant  city  in  the  state,  —  the  political  capital  as 
well  as  the  social  centre  of  Virginia.  The  char 
acter  of  Virginian  society  had  become  greatly 
changed  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  glo 
ries  of  Williamsburg,  the  colonial  capital,  with  its 
"  palace,"  its  Raleigh  Tavern,  its  Apollo  Hall,  its 
gay  and  magnificent  gatherings  of  the  planter 
magnates,  were  gone  never  to  return.  Many  of 
the  "  first  families  "  had  become  much  reduced  in 
their  circumstances.  Moreover,  the  system  of  pri 
mogeniture  and  entail  had  been  abolished  by  legal 
enactments  moved  by  Jefferson,  and  thus  the  legal 
foundation  upon  which  alone  a  permanent  landed 
aristocracy  can  maintain  itself  had  disappeared. 
Although  much  of  the  old  spirit  still  remained 
alive,  yet  the  general  current  was  decidedly  demo 
cratic,  and  the  distance  between  the  blooded  gentry 


YOUTH.  9 

and  less  "  well-born  "  people  was  materially  lessened. 
Thus  the  "  mill-boy  of  the  Slashes,"  having  become 
known  as  a  young  man  of  uncommon  intellectual 
brightness,  high  spirits,  and  good  character,  and 
being,  besides,  well  introduced  through  his  friend 
ship  with  Chancellor  Wythe,  found  it  possible  to 
come  into  friendly  contact  with  persons  of  social 
pretensions  far  above  his  own.  He  succeeded  even 
in  organizing  a  "rhetorical  society,"  or  debating 
club,  among  whose  members  there  were  not  a  few 
young  men  who  subsequently  became  distinguished. 
It  was  on  this  field  that  he  first  achieved  something 
like  leadership,  while  his  quick  intelligence  and 
his  sympathetic  qualities  made  him  a  favorite  in 
a  much  larger  circle.  According  to  all  accounts 
Henry  Clay,  at  that  period  of  his  life,  was  un 
touched  by  vice  or  bad  habit,  and  could  in  every 
respect  be  esteemed  as  an  irreproachable  and  very 
promising  young  man. 

But  he  soon  discovered  that  all  these  things 
would  not  give  him  a  paying  practice  as  an  attor 
ney  in  Richmond  so  quickly  as  he  desired ;  and  as 
his  mother  and  step-father  had  removed  to  Ken 
tucky  in  1792,  he  resolved  to  follow  them  to  the 
western  wilds,  and  there  to  "  grow  up  with  the 
country."  He  was  in  his  twenty-first  year  when 
he  left  Richmond,  with  his  license  to  practice  as 
an  attorney,  but  with  little  else,  in  his  pocket. 

This  was  the  end  of  Henry  Clay's  regular  school 
ing.  Thenceforth  he  did  not  again  in  his  life  find 
a  period  of  leisure  to  be  quietly  and  exclusively 


10  EENRY  CLAY. 

devoted  to  study.  What  he  had  learned  was  little 
enough.  In  Peter  Deacon's  schoolhouse  he  had  re 
ceived  nothing  but  the  first  elementary  instruction. 
The  year  he  spent  behind  the  counter  of  Denny's 
store  could  not  have  added  much  to  his  stock  of 
knowledge.  In  Peter  Tinsley's  office  he  had  cul 
tivated  a  neat  and  regular  handwriting,  of  which 
a  folio  volume  of  Chancellor  Wythe's  decisions, 
once  in  the  possession  of  Jefferson,  now  in  the 
library  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
gives  ample  testimony.  Under  Chancellor  Wythe's 
guidance  he  had  read  Harris's  Homer,  Tooke's 
Diversions  of  Purley,  Bishop  Lowth's  Grammar, 
Plutarch's  Lives,  some  elementary  law-books,  and 
a  few  works  on  history.  Further,  the  Chancellor's 
conversation  had  undoubtedly  been  in  a  high  de 
gree  instructive  and  morally  elevating.  But  all 
these  things  did  not  constitute  a  well-ordered  edu 
cation.  His  only  more  or  less  systematic  training 
he  received  during  the  short  year  he  spent  as  a  law 
student  in  the  office  of  Attorney-General  Brooke, 
and  that  can  scarcely  have  gone  far  beyond  the 
elementary  principles  of  law  and  the  ordinary  rou 
tine  of  practice  in  court.  On  the  whole,  he  had 
depended  upon  the  occasional  gathering  of  miscel 
laneous  information.  He  could  thus,  at  besj,  have 
acquired  only  a  slender  equipment  for  the  tasks 
before  him.  This,  however,  would  have  been  of 
comparatively  slight  importance  had  he,  in  learn 
ing  what  little  he  knew,  cultivated  thorough  meth 
ods  of  inquiry,  and  the  habit  of  reasoning  out 


YOUTH.  11 

questions,  and  of  not  being  satisfied  until  the  sub 
ject  in  hand  was  well  understood  in  all  its  aspects. 
The  habit  he  really  had  cultivated  was  that  of 
rapidly  skimming  over  the  surface  of  the  subjects 
of  his  study,  in  order  to  gather  what  knowledge 
was  needed  for  immediate  employment ;  and  as 
his  oratorical  genius  was  developed  early  and  well, 
he  possessed  the  faculty  of  turning  every  bit  of  in 
formation  to  such  advantage  as  to  produce  upon 
his  hearers  the  impression  that  he  possessed  rich 
accumulations  behind  the  actual  display.  Some 
times  he  may  have  thus  satisfied  and  deceived  even 
himself.  This  superficiality  remained  one  of  his 
weak  points  through  life.  No  doubt  he  went  on 
learning,  but  he  learned  rather  from  experience 
than  from  study ;  and  though  experience  is  a  good 
school,  yet  it  is  apt  to  be  irregular  and  fragmen 
tary  in  its  teachings. 

Some  of  Henry  Clay's  biographers  have  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  the  scantiness  and  irregu 
larity  of  instruction  he  received,  without  the  aid  of 
academy  or  college,  were  calculated  to  quicken  his 
self-reliance  and  thereby  to  become  an  element  of 
strength  in  his  character  especially  qualifying  him 
for  political  leadership.  It  is  quite  possible  that, 
had  he  in  his  youth  acquired  the  inclination  and 
faculty  for  methodical  inquiry  and  thus  the  habit 
of  examining  both  sides  of  every  question  with 
equal  interest,  he  would  have  been  less  quick  in 
forming  final  conclusions  from  first  impressions, 
less  easily  persuaded  of  the  absolute  correctness  of 


12  HENRY   CLAY. 

3iis  own  opinions,  less  positive  and  commanding  in 
the  promulgation  of  them,  and  less  successful  in  in 
spiring  his  followers  with  a  ready  belief  in  his  in 
fallibility.  But  that  he  might  have  avoided  grave 
errors  as  a  statesman  had  his  early  training  been 
such  as  to  form  his  mind  for  more  thorough  think 
ing,  and  thus  to  lay  a  larger  basis  for  his  later  de 
velopment,  he  himself  seemed  now  and  then  to  feel. 
It  was  with  melancholy  regret  that  he  sometimes 
spoke  of  his  "  neglected  education,  improved  by 
his  own  irregular  efforts,  without  the  benefit  of 
systematic  instruction." 

When  he  settled  down  in  Kentucky  his  new 
surroundings  were  by  no  means  such  as  to  remedy 
this  defect.  Active  life  in  a  new  country  stimu 
lates  many  energies,  but  it  is  not  favorable  to  the 
development  of  studious  habits.  In  this  respect 
Kentucky  was  far  from  forming  an  exception. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   KENTUCKY   LAWYER. 

AT  the  time  when  Henry  Clay  left  Richmond  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  Kentucky,  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio  was  the  "  Far  West "  of  the  country,  attract 
ing  two  distinct  classes  of  adventurous  and  enter 
prising  spirits.  Only  nine  years  before,  in  1788, 
the  Ohio  River  had  floated  down  the  flat-boats  car 
rying  the  pioneers  who  founded  the  first  settle 
ments  on  the  northern  bank  at  Marietta  and  on 
the  present  site  of  Cincinnati  ;  but  forthwith  a 
steady  stream  had  poured  in,  which  in  twelve  years 
had  swelled  the  population  of  the  territory  des 
tined  to  become  the  State  of  Ohio  to  45,000  souls. 
They  came  mainly  from  New  England,  New  York, 
and  Pennsylvania.  Emigrants  from  the  Slave 
States,  too,  in  considerable  number,  sought  new 
homes  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  but  they  formed  only  a  minority.  The 
settlement  of  Kentucky  was  of  an  older  date,  and 
its  population  of  a  different  character.  Daniel 
Boone  entered  the  "dark  and  bloody  ground"  in 
1769,  seven  years  before  the  colonies  declared 
themselves  independent.  Other  hardy  and  in 
trepid  spirits  soon  followed  him,  to  dispute  the 


14  HENRY  CLAY. 

possession  of  the  land  with  the  Indians.  They 
were  hunters  and  pioneer  farmers,  not  intent  upon 
founding  large  industrial  communities,  but  fond 
of  the  wild,  adventurous,  lonesome,  unrestrained 
life  of  the  frontiersman.  Ten  years  after  Daniel 
Boone's  first  settlement,  Kentucky  was  said  to 
contain  less  than  two  hundred  white  inhabitants. 
But  then  immigration  began  to  flow  in  rapidly, 
so  that  in  1790,  when  the  first  federal  census  was 
taken,  Kentucky  had  a  population  of  73,600,  —  of 
whom  61,000  were  white.  About  one  half  of  the 
whites  and  three  fourths  of  the  slaves  had  come 
from  Virginia,  the  rest  mostly  from  North  Caro 
lina  and  Maryland,  with  a  sprinkling  of  Pennsyl- 
vanians.  At  the  period  when  Henry  Clay  arrived 
in  Kentucky,  in  1797,  the  population  exceeded 
18  0,000,  about  one  fifth  of  whom  were  slaves,  — 
the  later  immigrants  having  come  from  the  same 
quarter  as  the  earlier. 

The  original  stock  consisted  of  the  hardiest  race 
of  backwoodsmen.  The  forests  of  Kentucky  were 
literally  wrested  from  the  Indians  by  constant 
fighting.  The  question  whether  the  aborigines  had 
any  right  to  the  soil  seems  to  have  been  utterly 
foreign  to  the  pioneer's  mind.  He  wanted  the 
land,  and  to  him  it  was  a  matter  of  course  that 
the  Indian  must  leave  it.  The  first  settlements 
planted  in  the  virgin  forest  were  fortified  with 
stockades  and  block-houses,  which  the  inmates,  not 
seldom  for  months  at  a  time,  could  not  leave  with- 
out  danger  of  falling  into  an  Indian  ambush  and 


THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  15 

being  scalped.  No  part  of  the  country  has  there 
fore  more  stories  and  traditions  of  perilous  advent- 
tures,  bloody  fights,  and  hairbreadth  escapes.  For 
a  generation  or  more  the  hunting- shirt,  leggins,  and 
moccasins  of  deerskin  more  or  less  gaudily  orna 
mented,  and  the  long  rifle,  powder-horn,  and  hunt 
ing-knife  formed  the  regular  "  outfit "  of  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  male  Kentuckians.  We 
are  told  of  some  of  the  old  pioneers  who,  many 
years  after  populous  towns  had  grown  up  on  the 
sites  of  the  old  stockades,  still  continued  the  habit 
of  walking  about  in  their  hunter's  garb,  with  rifle 
and  powder-horn,  although  the  deer  had  become 
scarce  and  the  Indian  had  long  ago  disappeared 
from  the  neighborhood.  They  were  loath  to  make 
up  their  minds  to  the  fact  that  the  old  wild  life  was 
over.  Thus  the  reminiscences  and  the  character 
istic  spirit  and  habits  left  behind  by  that  wild  life 
were  still  fresh  among  the  people  of  Kentucky  at 
the  period  of  which  we  speak.  They  were  an  un 
commonly  sturdy  race  of  men,  most  of  them  fully 
as  fond  of  hunting,  and  perhaps  also  of  fighting, 
as  of  farming ;  brave  and  generous,  rough  and 
reckless,  hospitable  and  much  given  to  boisterous 
carousals,  full  of  a  fierce  love  of  independence, 
and  of  a  keen  taste  for  the  confused  and  turbulent 
contests  of  frontier  politics.  Slavery  exercised  its 
peculiar  despotic  influence  there  as  elsewhere,  al 
though  the  number  of  slaves  in  Kentucky  was  com 
paratively  small.  But  among  freemen  a  strongly 
democratic  spirit  prevailed.  There  was  as  yet  little 


16  HENRY  CLAY. 

of  that  relation  of  superior  and  inferior  between 
the  large  planter  and  the  small  tenant  or  farmer 
which  had  existed,  and  was  still  to  some  extent  ex 
isting,  in  Virginia.  As  to  the  white  population, 
society  started  on  the  plane  of  practical  equality. 

Where  the  city  of  Lexington  now  stands,  the 
first  block-house  was  built  in  April,  1775,  by  Robert 
Patterson,  "  an  early  and  meritorious  adventurer, 
much  engaged  in  the  defense  of  the  country."  A 
settlement  soon  formed  under  its  protection,  which 
was  called  Lexington,  in  honor  of  the  Revolution 
ary  battle  then  just  fought  in  Massachusetts.  The 
first  settlers  had  to  maintain  themselves  in  many 
an  Indian  fight  on  that  "  finest  garden  spot  in  all 
Kentucky,"  as  the  Blue  Grass  region  was  justly 
called.  In  an  early  day  it  attracted  "  some  people 
of  culture "  from  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Pennsylvania.  In  1780  the  first  school  was  built 
in  the  fort,  and  the  same  year  the  Virginia  legis 
lature  —  for  Kentucky  was  at  that  time  still  a  part 
of  Virginia  —  chartered  the  Transylvania  Semi 
nary  to  be  established  there.  In  1787  Mr.  Isaac 
Wilson,  of  the  Philadelphia  College,  opened  the 
"  Lexington  Grammar  School,"  for  the  teaching  of 
Latin,  Greek,  "  and  the  different  branches  of  sci 
ence."  The  same  year  saw  the  organization  of  a 
"  society  for  promoting  useful  knowledge,"  and 
the  establishment  of  the  first  newspaper.  A  year 
later,  in  1788,  the  ambition  of  social  refinement 
wanted  and  got  a  dancing  -  school,  and  also  the 
Transylvania  Seminary  was  fairly  ready  to  receive 


THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  17 

students :  "  Tuition  five  pounds  a  year,  one  half  in 
cash,  the  other  in  property  ;  boarding  nine  pounds 
a  year,  in  property,  pork,  corn,  tobacco,  etc."  In 
ten  years  more  the  seminary,  having  absorbed  the 
Kentucky  Academy  established  by  the  Presbyte 
rians,  expanded  into  the  "  Transylvania  Univer 
sity,"  with  first  an  academical  department,  and  the 
following  year  adding  one  of  medicine  and  another 
of  law.  Thus  Lexington,  although  still  a  small 
town,  became  what  was  then  called  "  the  literary 
and  intellectual  centre  west  of  the  Alleghanies," 
and  a  point  of  great  attraction  to  people  of  means 
and  of  social  wants  and  pretensions.  It  would, 
however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  was  a 
quiet  and  sedate  college  town  like  those  of  New 
England.  Many  years  later,  in  1814,  a  young 
Massachusetts  Yankee,  Amos  Kendall,  who  had 
drifted  to  Lexington  in  pursuit  of  profitable  em 
ployment,  and  was  then  a  private  teacher  in  Henry 
Clay's  family,  wrote  in  his  diary :  "  I  have,  I 
think,  learned  the  way  to  be  popular  in  Kentucky, 
but  do  not,  as  yet,  put  it  in  practice.  Drink 
whiskey  and  talk  loud,  with  the  fullest  confidence, 
and  you  will  hardly  fail  of  being  called  a  clever 
fellow."  This  was  not  the  only  "  way  to  be  pop 
ular,"  but  was  certainly  one  of  the  ways.  When 
the  Lexington  of  1797,  the  year  of  Clay's  arrival 
there,  is  spoken  of  as  a  "  literary  and  intellectual 
centre,"  the  meaning  is  that  it  was  an  outpost  of 
civilization  still  surrounded,  and  to  a  great  extent 
permeated,  by  the  spirit  of  border  life.  The 
2 


18  HENRY  CLAY. 

hunter  in  his  fringed  buckskin  suit,  with  long 
rifle  and  powder-horn,  was  still  a  familiar  figure 
on  the  streets  of  the  town.  The  boisterous  hilar 
ity  of  the  bar-room  and  the  excitement  of  the  card 
table  accorded  with  the  prevailing  taste  better  than 
a  lecture  on  ancient  history ;  and  a  racing  horse 
was  to  a  large  majority  of  Lexingtonians  an  object 
of  far  greater  interest  than  a  professor  of  Greek. 
But  compared  with  other  Western  towns  of  the 
time,  Lexington  did  possess  an  uncommon  propor 
tion  of  educated  people ;  and  there  were  circles 
wherein  the  social  life  displayed,  together  with  the 
freedom  of  tone  characteristic  of  a  new  country,  a 
liberal  dash  of  culture. 

This  was  the  place  where  Henry  Clay  cast  an 
chor  in  1797.  The  society  he  found  there  was  con 
genial  to  him,  and  he  was  congenial  to  it.  A 
voung  man  of  uncommon  brightness  of  intellect,  of 
fascinating  address,  without  effort  making  the  lit 
tle  he  knew  pass  for  much  more,  of  high  spirits, 
warm  sympathies,  a  cheery  nature,  and  sociable 
tastes,  he  easily  became  a  favorite  with  the  edu 
cated  as  a  person  of  striking  ability,  and  with  the 
many  as  a  good  companion,  who,  notwithstanding 
a  certain  distinguished  air,  enjoyed  himself  as  they 
did.  It  was  again  as  a  speaker  that  he  first  made 
his  mark.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Lexington, 
before  he  had  begun  to  practice  law,  he  joined  a 
debating  club,  in  several  meetings  of  which  he  par 
ticipated  only  as  a  silent  listener.  One  evening, 
when,  after  a  long  discussion,  the  vote  upon  the 


THE   KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  19 

question  before  the  society  was  about  to  be  taken, 
he  whispered  to  a  friend,  loudly  enough  to  be  over 
heard,  that  to  him  the  debate  did  not  seem  to  have 
exhausted  the  subject.  Somebody  remarked  that 
Mr.  Clay  desired  to  speak,  and  he  was  called  upon. 
Finding  himself  unexpectedly  confronting  the  au 
dience,  he  was  struck  with  embarrassment,  and,  as 
he  had  done  frequently  in  imaginary  appeals  in 
court,  he  began  :  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury  !  "  A 
titter  running  through  the  audience  increased  his 
embarrassment,  and  the  awkward  words  came  out 
once  more.  But  then  he  gathered  himself  up  ;  his 
nerves  became  steady,  and  he  poured  out  a  flow  of 
reasoning  so  lucid,  and  at  the  same  time  so  impas 
sioned,  that  his  hearers  were  overcome  with  aston 
ishment.  Some  of  his  friends  who  had  been  pres 
ent  said,  in  later  years,  that  they  had  never  heard 
him  make  a  better  speech.  This  was,  no  doubt, 
an  exaggeration  of  the  first  impression,  but  at  any 
rate  that  speech  stamped  him  at  once  as  a  remark 
able  man  in  the  community,  and  laid  open  before 
him  the  road  to  success. 

He  had  not  come  to  Lexington  with  extravagant 
expectations.  As  an  old  man,  looking  back  upon 
those  days,  he  said :  "  I  remember  how  comfort 
able  I  thought  I  should  be  if  I  could  make  one 
hundred  pounds  a  year,  Virginia  money,  and  with 
what  delight  I  received  the  first  fifteen  shillings 
fee."  He  approached  with  a  certain  awe  the  com 
petition  with  what  he  called  "  a  bar  uncommonly 
distinguished  by  eminent  members."  But  he  did 


20  HENRY  CLAY. 

not  find  it  difficult  to  make  his  way  among  them. 
His  practice  was,  indeed,  at  first  mostly  in  crimi 
nal  cases,  and  many  are  the  stories  told  of  the 
marvelous  effects  produced  by  his  eloquence  upon 
the  simple-minded  Kentuclsy  jurymen,  and  of  the 
culprits  saved  by  him  from  a  well-merited  fate.  In 
one  of  those  cases,  —  that  of  a  Mrs.  Phelps,  a  re 
spectable  farmer's  wife,  who  in  a  fit  of  angry  pas 
sion  had  killed  her  sister-in-law  with  a  musket,  — • 
he  used  "  temporary  delirium  "  as  a  ground  of  de 
fense,  and  thus  became,  if  not  the  inventor,  at  least 
one  of  the  earliest  advocates,  of  that  theory  of  emo 
tional  insanity  which  has  served  so  much  to  con 
fuse  people's  notions  about  the  responsibility  of 
criminals.  But  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Phelps  the  jury, 
with  characteristic  confusion  of  judgment,  found 
that  the  accused  was  just  insane  enough  not  to  be 
hung,  but  not  insane  enough  to  be  let  off  without 
a  term  in  jail.  » 

There  is  one  very  curious  exploit  on  record,  ex 
hibiting  in  a  strong  light  Clay's  remarkable  power, 
not  only  as  a  speaker,  but  as  an  actor.  A  man 
named  Willis  was  tried  for  a  murder  of  peculiar 
atrocity.  In  the  very  teeth  of  the  evidence,  which 
seemed  to  be  absolutely  conclusive,  Clay,  defend 
ing  him,  succeeded  in  dividing  the  jury  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  crime  committed.  The  jurors  having 
been  unable  to  agree,  the  public  prosecutor  moved 
for  a  new  trial,  which  motion  Clay  did  not  oppose. 
But  when,  at  the  new  trial,  his  turn  came  to  ad 
dress  the  jury,  he  argued  that,  whatever  opinion  the 


THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  21 

jury  might  form  from  the  testimony  as  to  the  guilt 
of  the  accused,  they  could  not  now  convict  him,  as 
he  had  already  been  once  tried,  and  it  was  the  law 
of  the  land  that  no  man  should  be  put  twice  in 
jeopardy  of  his  life  for  the  same  offense.  The 
court,  having,  of  course,  never  heard  that  doctrine 
so  applied,  at  once  peremptorily  forbade  Clay  to  go 
011  with  such  a  line  of  argument.  Whereupon  the 
young  attorney  solemnly  arose,  and  with  an  air  of 
indignant  astonishment  declared  that,  if  the  court 
would  not  permit  him  to  defend,  in  such  manner  as 
his  duty  commanded  him  to  adopt,  a  man  in  the 
awful  presence  of  death,  he  found  himself  forced 
to  abandon  the  case.  Then  he  gathered  up  his 
papers,  bowed  grandly,  and  stalked  out  of  the  room. 
The  bench,  whom  Clay  had  impressed  with  the  be 
lief  that  he  was  profoundly  convinced  of  being 
right  in  the  position  he  had  taken,  and  upon  whom 
he  had  in  such  solemn  tones  thrown  the  responsi 
bility  for  denying  his  rights  to  a  man  on  trial  for 
his  life,  was  startled  and  confused.  A  messenger 
was  dispatched  to  invite  Clay  in  the  name  of  the 
court  to  return  and  continue  his  argument.  Clay 
graciously  came  back,  and  found  it  easy  work  to 
persuade  the  jury  that  the  result  of  the  first  trial 
was  equivalent  to  an  acquittal,  and  that  the  pris 
oner,  as  under  the  law  he  could  not  be  put  in  peril 
of  life  twice  for  the  same  offense,  was  clearly  en 
titled  to  his  discharge.  The  jury  readily  agreed 
upon  a  verdict  of  "  not  guilty." 

It  is  said  that  no  murderer  defended  by  Henry 


22  HENRY  CLAY. 

Clay  ever  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  very  early 
in  his  professional  career  he  acquired  the  reputa 
tion  of  being  able  to  insure  the  life  of  any  crimi 
nal  intrusted  to  his  care,  whatever  the  degree  of 
guilt.  That  his  success  in  saving  murderers  from 
the  gallows  did  not  benefit  the  tone  and  character 
of  Kentucky  society,  Clay  himself  seemed  to  feel. 
44  Ah,  Willis,  poor  fellow,"  he  said  once  to  the 
man  whose  acquittal  he  had  obtained  by  so  auda 
cious  a  dramatic  coup,  "  I  fear  I  have  saved  too 
many  like  you,  who  ought  to  be  hanged." 

But  he  was  equally  successful  in  the  opposite 
direction  when  acting  as  public  prosecutor.  He 
had  frequently  been  asked  to  accept  the  office  of 
attorney  for  the  commonwealth,  but  had  always  de 
clined.  At  last  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  take  it 
temporarily,  until  he  could  obtain  the  appointment 
of  a  friend,  who,  he  thought,  ought  to  have  the 
place.  The  first  criminal  case  falling  into  his 
hands  was  one  of  peculiar  interest.  A  slave,  who 
was  highly  valued  by  his  master  on  account  of  his 
intelligence,  industry,  and  self-respect,  was,  in  the 
absence  of  the  owner,  treated  very  unjustly  and 
harshly  by  an  overseer,  a  white  man.  Once  the 
slave,  defending  himself  against  the  blows  aimed 
at  him,  seized  an  axe  and  killed  his  assailant. 
Clay,  as  public  prosecutor,  argued  that,  had  the 
deed  been  done  by  a  free  man,  considering  that  it 
was  done  in  self-defense,  it  would  have  been  justi 
fiable  homicide,  or,  at  worst,  manslaughter.  But 
having  been  done  by  a  slave,  who  was  in  duty 


THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  23 

bound  to  submit  to  chastisement,  it  was  murder, 
and  must  be  punished  as  such.  It  was  so  punished. 
The  slave  was  hung ;  but  his  self-contained  and 
heroic  conduct  in  the  presence  of  death  extorted 
admiration  from  all  who  witnessed  it ;  and  this 
occurrence  made  so  deep  and  painful  an  impres 
sion  upon  Clay  himself  that  he  resigned  his  place 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  never  failed  to  express  his 
sorrow  at  the  part  he  had  played  in  this  case 
whenever  it  was  mentioned. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  that  he  remained 
confined  to  criminal  cases.  Soon  he  distinguished 
himself  by  the  management  of  civil  suits  also, 
especially  suits  growing  out  of  the  peculiar  land 
laws  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  In  this  way  he 
rapidly  acquired  a  lucrative  practice  and  a  promi 
nent  place  at  the  bar  of  his  state.  That  with  all 
his  brilliant  abilities  he  never  worked  his  way  into 
the  front  rank  of  the  great  lawyers  of  the  country 
was  due  to  his  characteristic  failing.  He  studied 

O 

only  for  the  occasion,  as  far  as  his  immediate  need 
went.  His  studies  were  never  wide  and  profound. 
His  time  was  too  much  occupied  by  other  things,  — 
not  only  by  his  political  activity,  which  gradually 
grew  more  and  more  exacting,  but  also  by  pleasure. 
He  was  fond  of  company,  and  in  that  period  of  his 
life  not  always  careful  in  selecting  his  comrades ;  a 
passion  for  cards  grew  upon  him,  so  much  so,  in 
deed,  that  he  never  completely  succeeded  in  over 
coming  it ;  and  these  tastes  robbed  him  of  the  hours 
and  of  the  temper  of  mind  without  which  the  calm 


24  HENRY  CLAY. 

gathering  o£  thought  required  for  the  mastery  of 
a  science  is  not  possible.  Moreover,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  his  remarkable  gift  of  speaking, 
which  enabled  him  to  make  little  tell  for  much, 
and  to  outshine  men  of  vastly  greater  learning,  de 
ceived  him  as  to  the  necessity  for  laborious  study. 
The  value  of  this  faculty  he  appreciated  well.  He 
knew  that  oratory  is  an  art,  and  in  this  art  he 
trained  himself  with  judgment  and  perseverance. 
For  many  years,  as  a  young  man,  he  made  it  a  rule 
to  read,  if  possible  every  day,  in  some  historical  or 
scientific  book,  and  then  to  repeat  what  he  had 
read  in  free,  off-hand  speech,  "sometimes  in  a 
cornfield,  at  others  in  the  forest,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  in  a  distant  barn  with  the  horse  and  ox  for 
auditors."  Thus  he  cultivated  that  facility  and 
affluence  of  phrase,  that  resonance  of  language, 
as  well  as  that  freedom  of  gesture,  which,  aided 
by  a  voice  of  rare  power  and  musical  beauty,  gave 
his  oratory,  even  to  the  days  of  declining  old  age, 
so  peculiar  a  charm. 

Only  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  arrival  at  Lex 
ington,  in  April,  1799,  he  had  achieved  a  position 
sufficiently  respected  and  secure  to  ask  for  and  to 
obtain  the  hand  of  Lucretia  Hart,  the  daughter  of 
a  man  of  high  character  and  prominent  standing 
in  the  state.  She  was  not  a  brilliant,  but  a  very 
estimable  woman,  and  a  most  devoted  wife  to  him. 
She  became  the  mother  of  eleven  children.  His 
prosperity  increased  rapidly ;  so  that  soon  he  was 
able  to  purchase  Ashland,  an  estate  of  some  sh? 


THE  KENTUCKY  LAWYER.  25 

hundred  acres,  near  Lexington,  which   afterward 
became  famous  as  Henry  Clay's  home. 

Together  with  the  accumulation  of  worldly  goods 
he  laid  up  a  valuable  stock  of  popularity.  Indeed, 
few  men  ever  possessed  in  greater  abundance  and 
completeness  those  qualities  which  attract  popular 
regard  and  affection.  A  tall  stature  ;  not  a  hand 
some  face,  but  a  pleasing,  winning  expression  ;  a 
voice  of  which  some  of  his  contemporaries  say  that 
it  was  the  finest  musical  instrument  they  ever 
heard ;  an  eloquence  always  melodious  and  in  turn 
majestic,  fierce,  playful,  insinuating,  irresistibly 
appealing  to  all  the  feelings  of  human  nature, 
aided  by  a  gesticulation  at  the  same  time  natural, 
vivid,  large,  and  powerful ;  a  certain  magnificent 
grandeur  of  bearing  in  public  action,  and  an  easy 
familiarity,  a  never  failing  natural  courtesy  in  pri 
vate,  which,  even  in  his  intercourse  with  the  low 
liest,  had  nothing  of  haughty  condescension  in  it ; 
a  noble  generous  heart  making  him  always  ready 
to  volunteer  his  professional  services  to  poor 
widows  and  orphans  who  needed  aid,  to  slaves 
whom  he  thought  entitled  to  their  freedom,  to  free 
negroes  who  were  in  danger  of  being  illegally  re 
turned  to  bondage,  and  to  persons  who  were  per 
secuted  by  the  powerful  and  lawless,  in  serving 
whom  he  sometimes  endangered  his  own  safety ; 
a  cheery  sympathetic  nature,  withal,  of  exuberant 
vitality,  gay,  spirited,  always  ready  to  enjoy,  and 
always  glad  to  see  others  enjoy  themselves,  —  his 
very  faults  being  those  of  what  was  considered 


26  HENRY  CLAY. 

good  fellowship  in  his  Kentuckian  surroundings ; 
a  superior  person,  appearing,  indeed,  immensely 
superior  at  times,  but  making  his  neighbors  feel 
that  he  was  one  of  them,  —  such  a  man  was  born 
to  be  popular.  It  has  frequently  been  said  that 
later  in  life  he  cultivated  his  popularity  by  clever 
acting,  and  that  his  universal  courtesy  became  some 
what  artificial.  If  so,  then  he  acted  his  own  char 
acter  as  it  originally  was.  It  is  an  important  fact 
that  his  popularity  at  home,  among  his  neighbors, 
indeed  in  the  whole  state,  constantly  grew  stronger 
as  he  grew  older,  and  that  the  people  of  Kentucky 
clung  to  him  with  unbounded  affection. 


CHAPTER   III. 

BEGINNINGS   IN   POLITICS. 

HENRY  CLAY'S  first  participation  in  politics  was 
highly  honorable  to  him.  The  people  of  Kentucky 
were  dissatisfied  with  those  clauses  in  their  Con 
stitution  which  provided  for  the  election  of  the 
governor  and  of  the  state  senators  through  the 
medium  of  electors.  They  voted  that  a  convention 
be  called  to  revise  the  fundamental  law.  This 
convention  was  to  meet  in  1799.  Some  public- 
spirited  men  thought  this  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  an  attempt  to  rid  the  state  of  slavery.  An 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  prepared  pro 
viding  for  general  emancipation,  and  among  its 
advocates  in  the  popular  discussions  which  pre 
ceded  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  Clay  was 
one  of  the  most  ardent.  It  was  to  this  cause  that 
he  devoted  his  first  essays  as  a  writer  for  the  press, 
and  his  first  political  speeches  in  popular  assem 
blies.  But  the  support  which  that  cause  found 
among  the  farmers  and  traders  of  Kentucky  was 
discouragingly  slender. 

The  philosophical  anti-slavery  movement  which 
accompanied  the  American  Revolution  had  by  this 
time  very  nearly  spent  Its  force.  In  fact,  its  prac- 


28  HENRY  CLAY. 

tical  effects  had  been  mainly  confined  to  the  North, 
where  slavery  was  of  little  economic  consequence, 
and  where,  moreover,  the  masses  of  the  population 
were  more  accessible  to  the  currents  of  opinion 
and  sentiment  prevailing  among  men  of  thought 
and  culture.  There  slavery  was  abolished.  Fur 
ther,  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  slavery  was  ex 
cluded  from  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 
But  nothing  was  accomplished  in  the  South  except 
the  passage  of  a  law  by  the  Virginia  legislature  in 
1778,  prohibiting  the  further  introduction  of  slaves 
from  abroad,  and  the  repeal,  in  1782,  of  the  old 
colonial  statute,  which  forbade  the  emancipation 
of  slaves  except  for  meritorious  services.  Mary 
land  followed  the  example  of  Virginia,  but  then 
Virginia,  ten  years  after  the  repeal,  put  a  stop  to 
individual  emancipation  by  reenacting  the  old 
colonial  statute.  The  convention  framing  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  did  nothing  but 
open  the  way  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade 
at  some  future  time.  On  the  whole,  as  soon  as  the 
philosophical  anti-slavery  movement  threatened  to 
become  practical  in  the  South,  it  stirred  up  a  very 
determined  opposition,  and  the  reaction  began. 
Indeed,  the  hostility  to  slavery  on  the  part  of  some 
of  the  Southern  Revolutionary  leaders  was  never 
of  a  very  practical  kind.  Very  characteristic  in 
this  respect  was  a  confession  Patrick  Henry  made 
concerning  the  state  of  his  own  mind  as  early  as 
1773,  in  a  letter  to  a  Quaker :  — 


BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS.  29 

"  Is  it  not  amazing  that,  at  a  time  when  the  rights  of 
humanity  are  defined  and  understood  with  precision,  in 
a  country  above  all  others  fond  of  liberty,  in  such  an 
age,  we  find  men  professing  a  religion  the  most  humane, 
mild,  meek,  gentle,  and  generous,  adopting  a  principle 
as  repugnant  to  humanity  as  it  is  inconsistent  with  the 
Bible,  and  destructive  of  liberty  ?  Every  thinking, 
honest  man  rejects  it  in  speculation,  but  how  few  in 
practice,  from  conscientious  motives  1  Would  any  one 
believe  that  I  am  a  master  of  slaves  of  my  own  pur 
chase  ?  I  am  drawn  along  by  the  general  inconvenience 
of  living  without  them.  I  will  not,  I  cannot,  justify  it ; 
however  culpable  my  conduct,  I  will  so  far  pay  my  de 
voir  to  virtue  as  to  own  the  excellence  and  rectitude  of 
her  precepts,  and  lament  my  want  of  conformity  to 
them." 

This  merely  theoretical  kind  of  anti  -  slavery 
spirit  lost  all  aggressive  force,  as  those  whose  pe 
cuniary  interests  and  domestic  habits  were  identi 
fied  with  slavery  grew  more  defiant  and  exacting. 
In  1785  Washington  complained  in  a  letter  to 
Lafayette  that  "  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery,  presented  to  the  Virginia  legislature,  could 
scarcely  obtain  a  hearing."  While  the  prohibition 
of  slavery  northwest  of  the  Ohio  by  the  Ordinance 
of  1787  proceeded  from  Southern  statesmen,  the 
slave-holding  interest  kept  all  the  land  south  of 
the  Ohio  firmly  in  its  grasp. 

At  the  period  of  the  elections  for  the  conven 
tion  called  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  Kentucky, 
the  philosophical  anti-slavery  spirit  of  the  Revolu 
tion  survived  in  that  state  only  in  a  comparatively 


30  HENRY  CLAY. 

feeble  flicker  among  the  educated  men  who  had 
come  there  from  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  It 
had  never  touched  the  rough  pioneers  of  Kentucky 
with  any  force.  The  number  of  slaves  held  in  the 
state  was,  indeed,  small  enough  to  render  easy  the 
gradual  abolition  of  the  system.  But  the  Ken 
tucky  farmer  could  not  understand  why,  if  he  had 
money  to  buy  negroes,  he  should  not  have  them  to 
work  for  him  in  raising  his  crops  of  corn,  and 
hemp,  and  tobacco,  and  in  watching  his  cattle  and 
swine  in  the  forest.  His  opposition  to  emancipa 
tion  in  any  form  was,  therefore,  vehement  and  over 
whelming.  The  cause  so  fervently  advocated  by 
Clay,  following  his  own  generous  impulses,  as  wrell 
as  the  teachings  of  his  noble  mentor,  Chancellor 
Wythe,  and  by  a  small  band  of  men  of  the  same 
way  of  thinking,  was,  therefore,  desperate  from 
the  beginning.  But  they  deserve  the  more  credit 
for  their  courageous  fidelity  to  their  convictions. 
Clay  was  then  a  promising  young  man  just  attract 
ing  public  attention.  At  the  very  start  he  boldly 
took  the  unpopular  side,  thus  exposing  himself  to 
the  displeasure  of  a  power,  which,  in  the  South, 
was  then  already  very  strong,  and  threatened  to 
become  unforgiving  and  merciless.  Nor  did  he 
ever  express  regret  at  this  first  venture  in  his  pub 
lic  career.  On  the  contrary,  all  his  life  he  con 
tinued  to  look  back  upon  it  with  pride.  In  a  speech 
he  delivered  at  Frankfort,  the  political  capital  of 
Kentucky,  in  1829,  he  said  :  — 


BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS.  31 

"  More  than  thirty  years  ago,  an  attempt  was  made, 
in  this  commonwealth,  to  adopt  a  system  of  gradual 
emancipation,  similar  to  that  which  the  illustrious  Frank 
lin  had  mainly  contributed  to  introduce  in  1780,  in  the 
state  founded  by  the  benevolent  Penn.  And  among 
the  acts  of  my  life  which  I  look  back  to  with  most  sat 
isfaction  is  that  of  my  having  cooperated,  with  other 
zealous  and  intelligent  friends,  to  procure  the  establish 
ment  of  that  system  in  this  state.  We  were  overpow 
ered  by  numbers,  but  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the 
majority  with  that  grace  which  the  minority  in  a  repub 
lic  should  ever  yield  to  that  decision.  I  have,  neverthe 
less,  never  ceased,  and  shall  never  cease,  to  regret  a  de 
cision,  the  effects  of  which  have  been  to  place  us  in  the 
rear  of  our  neighbors,  who  are  exempt  from  slavery,  in 
the  state  of  agriculture,  the  progress  of  manufactures, 
the  advance  of  improvements,  and  the  general  progress 
of  society." 

His  early  advocacy  of  that  cause  no  doubt  dis 
pleased  the  people  of  Kentucky ;  but  what  helped 
him  promptly  to  overcome  that  displeasure  was  the 
excitement  caused  by  another  topic  of  great  public 
interest,  on  which  he  was  in  thorough  accord  with 
them,  —  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  that  tremen 
dous  blunder  of  the  Federalists  in  the  last  days  of 
their  power.  The  conduct  of  the  French  govern 
ment  toward  the  United  States,  and  especially  the 
corrupt  attempts  of  its  agents,  revealed  by  the  fa 
mous  X  Y  Z  correspondence,  had  greatly  weak 
ened  that  sympathy  with  the  French  Revolution 
which  was  one  of  the  most  efficacious  means  of 
agitation  in  the  hands  of  the  American  Democrats. 


32  HENRY   CLAY. 

The  tide  of  popular  sentiment  turned  so  strongly 
in  favor  of  the  Federalists  that  they  might  easily, 
by  prudent  conduct,  have  attracted  to  themselves 
a  large  portion  of  the  Republican  rank  and  file, 
thus  severely  crippling  the  opposition  to  the  ad 
ministration  of  John  Adams.  But  to  push  an  ad 
vantage  too  far  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  errors 
a  political  party  can  commit ;  and  this  is  what  the 
Federalists  did  in  giving  themselves  the  appear 
ance  of  trying  to  silence  their  opponents  by  the 
force  of  law.  Nothing  could  have  been  better  cal 
culated  not  only  to  alarm  the  masses,  but  also  to 
repel  thinking  men  not  blinded  by  party  spirit, 
than  an  attempt  upon  the  freedom  of  speech  and 
of  the  press,  wholly  unwarranted  by  any  urgency 
of  public  danger.  The  result  was  as  might  have 
been  foreseen.  The  leaders  of  the  opposition,  with 
Jefferson  at  their  head,  were  not  slow  in  taking 
advantage  of  this  stupendous  folly.  Their  appeals 
to  the  democratic  instincts  of  the  people,  who  felt 
themselves  threatened  in  their  dearest  rights,  could 
not  fail  to  meet  with  an  overwhelming  response. 
That  response  was  especially  strong  west  of  the 
Alleghanies,  where  Federalism  had  never  grown 
as  an  indigenous  plant,  but  existed  only  as  an  ex 
otic.  In  the  young  communities  of  Kentucky,  the 
excitement  was  intense,  and  Clay,  fresh  from  the 
Virginia  school  of  democracy,  threw  himself  into 
the  current  with  all  the  fiery  spirit  of  youth.  Of 
the  speeches  he  then  delivered  in  popular  gather- 
ings,  none  are  preserved  even  in  outline.  But  it 


BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS.  33 

is  known  that  his  resonant  declamation  produced 
a  prodigious  impression  upon  his  hearers,  and  that 
after  one  of  the  large  field  meetings  held  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Lexington,  where  he  had  spoken 
after  George  Nicholas,  a  man  noted  for  his  elo 
quence,  he  and  Nicholas  were  put  in  a  carriage 
and  drawn  by  the  people  through  the  streets  of  the 
town  amid  great  shouting  and  huzzaing. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  four  years  afterward, 
in  1803,  that  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  legis 
lature  of  the  state,  having  been  brought  forward 
as  a  candidate  without  his  own  solicitation.  The 
sessions  in  which  he  participated  were  not  marked 
by  any  discussions  or  enactments  of  great  impor 
tance  ;  but  Clay,  who  had  so  far  been  only  the  re 
markable  man  of  Lexington  and  vicinity,  soon  was 
recognized  as  the  remarkable  man  of  the  state. 
In  such  debates  as  occurred,  he  measured  swords 
with  the  "  big  men"  of  the  legislature  who  thus  far 
had  been  considered  unsurpassed  ;  and  the  atten 
tion  attracted  by  his  eloquence  was  such  that 
the  benches  of  the  Senate  became  empty  when  he 
spoke  in  the  House. 

At  this  time,  too,  he  paid  his  first  tribute  to 
what  is  euphoniously  called  the  spirit  of  chivalry. 
A  Mr.  Bush,  a  tavern-keeper  at  Frankfort,  was 
assaulted  by  one  of  the  magnates  of  Kentucky, 
Colonel  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  then  District 
Attorney  of  the  United  States.  The  Colonel's  influ 
ence  was  so  powerful  that  no  attorney  at  Frankfort 
would  institute  an  action  against  him  for  Mr.  Bush. 


34  HENRY   CLAY. 

Clay,  seeing  a  man  in  need  of  help,  volunteered. 
In  the  argument  on  the  preliminary  question  he 
expressed  his  opinion  of  Daviess's  conduct  with 
some  freedom,  whereupon  the  redoubtable  Colonel 
sent  him  a  note  informing  him  that  he  was  not 
in  the  habit  of  permitting  himself  to  be  spoken 
of  in  that  way  and  warning  him  to  desist.  Clay 
promptly  replied  that  he,  on  his  part,  permitted 
nobody  to  dictate  to  him  as  to  the  performance  of 
his  duty,  and .  that  he  "  held  himself  responsible," 
etc.  The  Colonel  sent  him  a  challenge,  which  Clay 
without  delay  accepted.  The  hostile  parties  had 
already  arrived  at  the  place  agreed  upon,  when 
common  friends  interposed  and  brought  about  an 
accommodation. 

He  soon  met  Colonel  Daviess  again  in  connec 
tion  with  an  affair  of  greater  importance.  In  the 
latter  part  of  1806,  Aaron  Burr  passed  through 
Kentucky  on  his  journey  to  the  Southwest,  enlist 
ing  recruits  and  making  other  preparations  for  his 
mysterious  expedition,  the  object  of  which  was 
either  to  take  possession  of  Mexico  and  to  unite 
with  it  the  Western  States  of  the  Union,  the  whole 
to  be  governed  by  him,  or,  according  to  other  re 
ports,  to  form  a  large  settlement  on  the  Washita 
River.  A  newspaper  published  at  Frankfort,  the 
"  Western  World,"  denounced  the  scheme  as  a 
treasonable  one,  and  on  November  3d  Colonel 
Daviess,  as  District  Attorney  of  the  United  States, 
moved  in  court  that  Aaron  Burr  be  compelled  to 
attend,  in  order  to  answer  a  charge  of  being  en- 


BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS.  35 

gaged  in  an  unlawful  enterprise  designed  to  injure 
a  power  with  which  the  United  States  were  at 
peace.  Burr  applied  to  Henry  Clay  for  profes 
sional  aid.  Colonel  Daviess,  the  District  Attorney, 
being  a  Federalist,  the  attempted  prosecution  of 
Burr  was  at  once  looked  upon  by  the  people  as  a 
stroke  of  partisan  vindictiveness ;  popular  sym 
pathy,  therefore,  ran  strongly  on  Burr's  side. 
Clay,  no  doubt,  was  moved  by  a  similar  feeling ; 
he,  too,  considered  it  something  like  a  duty  of 
hospitality  to  aid  a  distinguished  man  arraigned 
on  a  grave  charge  far  away  from  his  home,  and 
for  this  reason  he  never  accepted  the  fee  offered 
to  him  by  his  client.  Yet  he  had  some  misgiv 
ings  as  to  Burr's  schemes,  and  requested  from  him 
assurances  of  their  lawful  character.  Burr  was 
profuse  in  plausibilities,  and  Clay  consented  to 
appear  for  him.  During  the  pendency  of  the  pro 
ceedings,  which  finally  resulted  in  Burr's  discharge 
for  want  of  proof,  Clay  was  appointed  to  repre 
sent  Kentucky  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
in  the  place  of  General  Ad  air,  who  had  resigned. 
Thereupon,  feeling  a  greater  weight  of  public  re 
sponsibility  upon  him,  he  deemed  it  necessary  to 
ask  from  Burr  a  statement  in  writing  concerning 
the  nature  of  his  doings  and  intentions.  This  re 
quest  did  not  seem  to  embarrass  Burr  in  the  least. 
In  a  letter  addressed  to  Clay  he  said  that  he  had 
no  design,  nor  had  he  taken  any  measure,  to  pro 
mote  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  or  the  separa 
tion  of  any  state  from  it ;  that  he  had  no  inten 


36  HENRY  CLAY. 

tion  to  meddle  with  the  government  or  disturb 
the  tranquillity  of  the  United  States  ;  that  he  had 
neither  issued,  nor  signed,  nor  promised  any  com 
mission  to  any  one  for  any  purpose ;  that  he  did 
not  own  any  kind  of  military  stores,  and  that  no 
body  else  did  by  his  authority  ;  that  his  views  had 
been  fully  explained  to  several  officers  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  were  approved  by  them  ;  that  he  be 
lieved  his  purposes  were  well  understood  by  the 
administration,  and  that  they  were  such  as  every 
man  of  honor  and  every  good  citizen  must  approve. 
"  Considering  the  high  station  you  now  fill  in  our 
national  councils,"  the  letter  concluded,  "I  have 
thought  these  explanations  proper,  as  well  to  coun 
teract  the  chimerical  tales  which  malevolent  per 
sons  have  so  industriously  circulated,  as  to  satisfy 
you  that  you  have  not  espoused  the  cause  of  a  man 
in  any  way  unfriendly  to  the  laws  or  the  interests 
of  the  country." 

Clay  did  not  know  the  man  he  was  dealing  with. 
He  knew  only  that  Burr  had  been  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States;  that  he  was  a  prominent 
Republican  ;  that  the  Federalists  hated  him  ;  that 
the  stories  told  about  his  schemes  were  almost  too 
adventurous  to  be  true.  Burr's  letter  seemed  to 
be  straightforward,  such  as  an  innocent  man  would 
write.  If  the  administration,  at  the  head  of  which 
stood  Jefferson  himself,  knew  and  approved  of 
Burr's  plans,  they  could  not  but  be  honorable. 
This  is  what  Clay  believed,  and  so  he  defended 
Burr  faithfully  and  conscientiously.  Nothing  could 


BEGINNINGS  IN  POLITICS.  37 

be  more  absurd  than  the  attempt  made  at  the 
time,  and  repeated  at  a  later  period,  to  hold  him 
in  part  responsible  for  Burr's  schemes,  the  true  na 
ture  of  which  he  discovered  only  when  he  had  his 
first  interview  with  President  Jefferson  at  Wash 
ington.  Then  his  mortification  was  great.  "  It 
seems,"  he  wrote  to  Thomas  Hart,  of  Lexington, 
"  that  we  have  been  much  mistaken  in  Burr. 
When  I  left  Kentucky,  I  believed  him  both  an  in 
nocent  and  persecuted  man.  In  the  course  of  my 
journey  to  this  place,  still  entertaining  that  opin 
ion,  I  expressed  myself  without  reserve,  and  it 
seems,  owing  to  the  freedom  of  my  sentiments  at 
Chillicothe,  I  have  exposed  myself  to  the  strictures 
of  some  anonymous  writer  at  that  place.  They 
give  me  no  uneasiness,  as  I  am  sensible  that  all 
my  friends  and  acquaintances  know  me  incapable 
of  entering  into  the  views  of  Burr."  The  letter 
by  which  Burr  had  deceived  him,  he  delivered  into 
the  President's  hands.  Nine  years  later  he  acci 
dentally  met  Burr  again  in  New  York,  where,  after 
aimless  wanderings  abroad,  the  adventurer  had 
stealthily  returned.  Burr  advanced  to  salute  him, 
but  Clay  refused  his  hand. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BEGINNINGS   IN   LEGISLATION. 

CLAY  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  on  December  29,  1806.  When  a  man  at 
so  early  an  age  is  chosen  for  so  high  a  place,  a 
place,  in  fact,  reserved  for  the  seniors  in  politics, 
be  it  even  to  "  serve  out  an  unexpired  term,"  it 
shows  that  he  is  considered  by  those  who  send 
him  there  a  person  forming  an  exception  to  ordi 
nary  rules.  But  it  is  a  more  remarkable  circum 
stance  that  Clay,  when  he  entered  the  Senate,  was 
not  yet  constitutionally  eligible  to  that  body,  and 
that  this  fact  was  not  noticed  at  the  time.  Accord 
ing  to  the  biographers  whose  dates  were  verified  by 
him,  he  was  born  on  April  12,  1777.  On  Decem 
ber  29,  1806,  when  he  entered  the  Senate,  he  there 
fore  lacked  three  months  and  seventeen  days  of 
the  age  of  thirty  years,  which  the  Constitution  pre 
scribes  as  a  condition  of  eligibility  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  The  records  of  the  Senate 
show  no  trace  of  a  question  having  been  raised 
upon  this  ground  when  Clay  was  sworn.  It  does 
not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  any  member  of  that 
body  that  the  man  who  stood  before  them  might 
not  be  old  enough  to  be  a  Senator.  In  all  prob« 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  39 

ability  Clay  himself  did  not  think  of  it.  He  was 
sworn  in  as  a  matter  of  course,  and,  without  the 
bashful  hesitation  generally  expected  of  young  sen 
ators,  he  plunged  at  once  into  the  current  of  pro 
ceedings  as  if  he  had  been  there  all  his  life.  On 
the  fourth  day  after  he  had  taken  his  seat,  we  find 
him  offering  a  resolution  concerning  the  circuit 
courts  of  the  United  States  ;  a  few  days  later,  an 
other  concerning  an  appropriation  of  land  for  the 
improvement  of  the  Ohio  rapids ;  then  another 
touching  Indian  depredations  ;  and  another  pro 
posing  an  amendment  to  the  federal  Constitution 
concerning  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States. 
We  find  the  young  man  on  a  variety  of  committees, 
sometimes  as  chairman,  charged  with  the  considera 
tion  of  important  subjects,  and  making  reports  to 
the  Senate.  We  find  him  taking  part  in  debate 
with  the  utmost  freedom,  and  on  one  occasion  as 
tonishing  with  a  piece  of  very  pungent  sarcasm  an 
old  Senator,  who  was  accustomed  to  subdue  with 
lofty  assumptions  of  superior  wisdom  such  younger 
colleagues  as  ventured  to  differ  from  him. 

In  one  important  respect  Clay's  first  beginnings 
in  national  legislation  were  characteristic  of  the 
natural  bent  of  his  mind  and  the  character  of  his 
future  statesmanship.  His  first  speech  was  in  ad 
vocacy  of  a  bill  providing  for  building  a  bridge 
across  the  Potomac  ;  and  the  measure  to  which 
he  mainly  devoted  himself  during  his  first  short 
term  in  the  Senate  was  an  appropriation  of  land 
"  toward  the  opening  of  the  canal  proposed  to  be 


40  HENRY  CLAY. 

cut  at  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio,  on  the  Kentucky 
shore."  This  was  in  the  line  of  the  policy  of 
"  internal  improvements."  Those  claim  too  much 
for  Henry  Clay  who  call  him  the  inventor,  the 
"father,"  of  that  policy.  It  was  thought  of  by 
others  before  him,  and  all  he  did  was  to  make 
himself,  in  this  as  in  other  cases,  so  prominent  a 
champion,  so  influential  and  commanding  a  leader 
in  the  advocacy  of  it,  that  presently  the  policy  itself 
began  to  pass  as  his  own.  In  fact  it  was  only  his 
child  by  adoption,  not  by  birth.  But  at  the  time 
of  Clay's  first  appearance  in  the  Senate  there  were 
two  things  giving  that  policy  an  especial  impulse. 
One  wras  a  revenue  beyond  the  current  needs  of 
the  government,  and  the  other  was  the  material 
growth  of  the  country. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States  a  period  of  more  general  con 
tentment  and  cheerfulness  of  feeling  than  the 
first  and  the  early  part  of  the  second  term  of 
Jefferson's  presidency.  Never  before,  since  the 
establishment  of  the  government,  had  the  country 
been  so  free  from  any  harassing  foreign  compli 
cations.  The  difference  with  Great  Britain  about 
the  matter  of  impressments  had  not  yet  taken  its 
threatening  form,  and  the  Indians,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  humane  treatment,  were  for  a  time  leaving 
the  frontier  settlements  in  peace.  The  American 
people,  also,  for  the  first  time  .became  fully  con 
scious  of  the  fact  that  the  government  really  be- 
longed  to  them,  and  not  to  a  limited  circle  of  im- 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  41 

portant  gentlemen.  Jefferson's  conciliatory  policy, 
proclaimed  in  the  famous  words,  "  We  are  all 
Republicans,  we  are  all  Federalists,"  produced  the 
desired  effect  of  withdrawing  from  the  Federalist 
leaders  a  large  portion  of  the  rank  and  file,  and  of 
greatly  mitigating  the  acerbity  of  party  contests, 
which  under  the  preceding  administration  had  been 
immoderately  violent.  The  Republican  majority  in 
Congress  and  in  the  country  grew  so  large  that  the 
struggle  of  the  minority  against  it  ceased  to  be 
very  exciting.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Federalists 
had  left  the  machinery  of  the  government  011  the 
whole  in  so  good  a  condition  that  the  party  coming 
into  power,  although  critically  disposed,  found  not 
much  to  change.  Those  at  the  head  of  the  gov 
ernment  professed  to  be  intent  upon  carrying  on 
public  affairs  in  the  simplest  and  most  economical 
style.  Under  such  circumstances  the  popular  mind 
could  give  itself  without  restraint  to  the  develop 
ment  of  the  country  in  the  material  sense.  The 
disturbed  state  of  Europe  having  thrown  a  large 
proportion  of  the  carrying  trade  on  the  ocean  into 
the  hands  of  the  American  merchant  marine,  the 
foreign  commerce  of  the  seaboard  cities  expanded 
largely.  Agriculture,  too,  was  remarkably  prosper 
ous,  cotton  was  rapidly  becoming  the  great  staple 
of  the  South,  and  other  crops  in  increasing  variety 
were  greatly  augmented  by  the  breaking  of  virgin 
soils.  Manufacturing  industry  began  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  abundant  water-powers  of  the  coun 
try,  and  to  produce  a  constantly  growing  volume 


42  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  variety  of  articles.     All  these  fields  of  activity 
were  enlivened  by  a  cheerful  spirit  of  enterprise. 

But  beyond  all  this  new  perspectives  of  terri 
torial  grandeur  and  national  power  had  opened 
themselves  to  the  American  people,  which  raised 
their  self-esteem  and  stimulated  their  ambition. 
The  United  States  had  ceased  to  be  a  mere  string 
of  settlements  along  the  seaboard,  with  a  few  in 
land  outposts.  The  "  great  West  "  had  risen 
above  the  horizon  as  a  living  reality.  The  idea 
of  a  "  boundless  empire  "  belonging  to  the  Ameri 
can  people  seized  upon  the  popular  imagination, 
and  everything  connected  with  the  country  and  its 
government  began  to  assume  a  larger  aspect.  The 
young  democracy  felt  its  sap,  and  stretched  its 
limbs.  By  the  Louisiana  purchase  the  Mississippi 
had  become  from  an  outer  boundary  an  American 
inland  river  from  source  to  mouth,  —  the  ramifica 
tion  of  the  sea  through  American  territory.  The 
acquisition  of  the  whole  of  Florida  was  only  a 
question  of  time.  The  immense  country  beyond 
the  Mississippi  was  still  a  vast  mystery,  but  steps 
were  taking  to  explore  that  grand  national  domain. 
In  the  message  sent  to  Congress  at  the  opening  of 
the  very  session  during  which  Henry  Clay  entered 
the  Senate,  President  Jefferson  announced  that 
"  the  expedition  of  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Clarke,  for 
exploring  the  river  Missouri,  and  the  best  com 
munication  from  that  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  had  had 
all  the  success  which  could  have  been  expected," 
and  that  they  had  "  traced  the  Missouri  nearly  to 


BEGINNINGS   IN  LEGISLATION.  43 

its  source,  descended  the  Columbia  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  ascertained  with  accuracy  the  geogra 
phy  of  that  interesting  communication  across  OUR 
CONTINENT." 

While  only  a  few  daring  explorers  and  adven 
turous  hunters  penetrated  the  immense  wilderness 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  a  steady  stream  of  emigra 
tion  from  the  Atlantic  States,  reinforced  by  new 
comers  from  the  old  world,  poured  into  the  fertile 
region  stretching  from  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
to  the  great  river.  They  found  their  way  either 
through  Pennsylvania  across  the  mountain  ridges 
to  Pittsburgh,  and  then  by  flat  or  keel  boat  down 
the  Ohio,  or  through  northern  New  York  to  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  then  on  by  water.  The  building 
of  the  famous  Cumberland  Road  farther  south  had 
then  only  been  just  begun.  Great  were  the  diffi 
culties  and  hardships  of  the  journey.  While  the 
swift  stage-coach  reached  Pittsburgh  in  six  days 
from  Philadelphia,  the  heavy  carrier  cart,  or  the 
emigrant  wagon,  had  a  jolt  of  three  weeks  to  trav 
erse  the  same  distance.  The  roads  were  indescrib 
able,  and  the  traveler  on  the  river  found  his  course 
impeded  by  snags,  sand-bars,  and  dangerous  rap 
ids.  It  was,  therefore,  not  enough  to  have  the 
great  country  ;  it  must  be  made  accessible.  Noth 
ing  could  have  been  more  natural  than  that,  as 
the  West  hove  in  sight  larger  and  richer,  the  cry 
for  better  means  of  communication  between  the 
East  and  the  West  should  have  grown  louder  and 
more  incessant. 


44  HENRY  CLAY. 

At  the  same  time  the  commercial  spirit  of  the 
East  was  busy,  planning  improved  roads  and  wa 
terways  from  the  interior  to  the  seaports,  and  from 
one  part  of  the  coast  to  the  other.  Canal  projects 
in  great  variety,  large  and  small,  were  discussed 
with  great  ardor.  While  some  of  these,  like  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Canal,  which  then  as  a  scheme 
began  to  assume  a  definite  shape,  were  designed 
to  be  taken  in  hand  by  single  states,  the  general 
government  was  looked  to  for  aid  with  regard  to 
others.  The  consciousness  of  common  interests 
grew  rapidly  among  the  people  of  different  states 
and  sections,  and  with  it  the  feeling  that  the  gen 
eral  government  was  the  proper  instrumentality 
by  which  those  common  interests  should  be  served, 
and  that  it  was  its  legitimate  business  to  aid  in 
making  the  different  parts  of  this  great  common 
domain  approachable  and  useful  to  the  people. 

This  feeling  was  the  source  from  which  the  pol 
icy  of  "  internal  improvements "  sprang.  There 
was  scarcely  any  difference  of  opinion  among  the 
statesmen  of  the  time  on  the  question  whether  it 
was  desirable  that  the  general  government  should 
aid  in  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals,  and 
the  improvement  of  navigable  rivers.  The  only 
trouble  in  the  minds  of  those  who  construed  the 
Constitution  strictly  was,  that  they  could  not  find 
in  it  any  grant  of  power  to  appropriate  public 
funds  to  such  objects.  But  the  objects  themselves 
seemed  to  most  of  them  so  commendable  that  they 
suggested  the  submission  to  the  state  legislatures 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  45 

of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  expressly 
granting  this  power.  This  was  the  advice  of  Jef 
ferson.  While  in  his  private  correspondence  he 
frequently  expressed  the  apprehension  that  the  ap 
propriation  of  public  money  to  such  works  as  roads 
and  canals,  and  the  improvement  of  rivers,  would 
lead  to  endless  jobbery  and  all  sorts  of  demoraliz 
ing  practices,  he  found  the  current  of  popular  sen 
timent  in  favor  of  these  things  too  strong  for  his 
scruples.  In  his  message  of  December,  1806,  he 
therefore  suggested  the  adoption  of  a  constitu 
tional  amendment  to  enable  Congress  to  apply  the 
surplus  revenue  "  to  the  great  purposes  of  the  pub 
lic  education,  roads,  rivers,  canals,  and  such  other 
objects  of  public  improvement  as  may  be  thought 
proper,"  etc.  "  By  these  operations,"  he  said, 
"  new  channels  of  communication  will  be  opened 
between  the  states ;  the  lines  of  separation  will 
disappear  ;  their  interests  will  be  identified,  and 
their  union  cemented  by  new  and  indissoluble 
ties."  This  certainly  looked  to  an  extensive  sys 
tem  of  public  works.  No  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution  was  passed  ;  but  even  Jefferson  was  found 
willing  to  employ  now  and  then  some  convenient 
reason  for  doing  without  the  expressed  power; 
such  as,  in  the  case  of  the  Cumberland  Road,  the 
consent  of  the  states  within  which  the  work  was  to 
be  executed. 

Clay  took  up  the  advocacy  of  this  policy  with  all 
his  natural  vigor.  He  was  a  Western  man.  He 
had  witnessed  the  toil  and  trouble  with  which  the 


46  HENRY  CLAY. 

emigrant  coming  from  the  East  worked  his  way  to 
the  fertile  western  fields.  The  necessity  of  mak 
ing  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  safe  and  easy  came 
home  to  his  neighbors  and  constituents.  But  he 
did  not  confine  his  efforts  to  that  one  measure. 
He  earnestly  supported  the  project  of  government 
aid  for  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  which,  in 
the  language  of  the  report,  was  to  serve  "  as  the 
basis  of  a  vast  scheme  of  interior  navigation,  con 
necting  the  waters  of  the  Lakes  with  those  of  the 
most  southern  states ; "  and  if  he  was  not,  as  some 
of  his  biographers  assert,  the  mover,  —  for  as  such 
the  annals  of  Congress  name  Senator  "Worthington, 
from  Ohio,  —  he  was  at  least  the  zealous  advocate 
of  a  resolution,  "  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  be  directed  to  prepare  and  report  to  the  Sen 
ate  at  their  next  session,  a  plan  for  the  application 
of  such  means  as  are 'within  the  power  of  Congress, 
to  the  purposes  of  opening  roads  and  making  ca 
nals,  together  with  a  statement  of  undertakings  of 
that  nature,  which,  as  objects  of  public  improve 
ment,  may  require  and  deserve  the  aid  of  govern 
ment,"  etc.,  a  direction  to  which  Gallatin,  then 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  responded  in  an  elab 
orate  report.  Thus  Clay  marched  in  large  com 
pany,  but  ahead  of  a  part  of  it ;  for  while  Jeffer 
son  and  his  immediate  followers,  admitting  the 
desirability  of  a  large  system  of  public  improve 
ments,  asserted  the  necessity  of  a  constitutional 
amendment  to  give  the  government  the  appropri 
ate  power,  Clay  became  the  recognized  leader  of 


BEGINNINGS    OF  LEGISLATION.  47 

those  who  insisted  upon  the  existence  of  that  power 
under  the  Constitution  as  it  was. 

The  senatorial  term,  for  a  fraction  of  which 
Clay  had  been  appointed,  ended  on  March  4, 1807. 
He  had  enjoyed  it  heartily.  "My  reception  in 
this  place,"  he  wrote  to  Colonel  Hart  on  February 
1st,  "  has  been  equal,  nay,  superior  to  my  expec 
tations.  I  have  experienced  the  civility  and  at 
tention  of  all  I  was  desirous  of  obtaining.  Those 
who  are  disposed  to  flatter  me  say  that  I  have  ac 
quitted  myself  with  great  credit  in  several  debates 
in  the  Senate.  But  after  all  that  I  have  seen, 
Kentucky  is  still  my  favorite  country.  There 
amidst  my  dear  family  I  shall  find  happiness  in  a 
degree  to  be  met  with  nowhere  else."  We  have, 
also,  contemporaneous  testimony,  showing  how  oth 
ers  saw  him  at  that  period.  William  Plumer,  a 
Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  a  Federalist,  wrote 
in  his  diary  :  — 

"  December  29, 1806.  This  day  Henry  Clay,  the  suc 
cessor  of  John  Adair,  was  qualified,  and  took  his  seat 
in  the  Senate.  He  is  a  young  lawyer.  His  stature  is 
tall  and  slender.  I  had  much  conversation  with  him, 
and  it  afforded  me  much  pleasure.  He  is  intelligent 
and  appears  frank  and  candid.  His  address  is  good, 
and  his  manners  easy." 

And  later :  — 

"  Mr.  Clay  is  a  young  lawyer  of  considerable  emi 
nence.  He  came  here  as  senator  for  this  session  only. 
His  clients,  who  have  suits  depending  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  gave  him  a  purse  of  three  thousand  dollars  to  at- 


48  HENRY   CLAY. 

tend  to  their  suits  here.  He  would  not  be  a  candidate 
for  the  next  Congress,  as  it  would  materially  injure  his 
business.  On  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  to  erect  a 
bridge  over  the  Potomac,  Henry  Clay  made  an  eloquent 
and  forcible  speech  against  the  postponement.  He  ani 
madverted  with  great  severity  on  Tracy's  observations. 
As  a  speaker  Clay  is  animated,  his  language  bold  and 
flowery.  He  is  prompt  and  ready  at  reply,  but  he  does 
not  reason  with  the  force  and  precision  of  Bayard." 

And  finally  :  — 

"  February  13.  Henry  Clay  is  a  man  of  pleasure  ; 
fond  of  amusements.  He  is  a  great  favorite  with  the 
ladies  ;  is  in  all  parties  of  pleasure ;  out  almost  every 
evening  ;  reads  but  little  ;  indeed,  he  said  he  meant  this 
session  should  be  a  tour  of  pleasure.  He  is  a  man  of 
talents ;  is  eloquent ;  but  not  nice  or  accurate  in  his  dis 
tinctions.  He  declaims  more  than  he  reasons.  He  is  a 
gentlemanly  and  pleasant  companion ;  a  man  of  honor 
and  integrity." 

The  reports  of  Clay's  speeches  delivered  at  this 
session,  which  have  been  preserved,  do  not  bear  out 
Mr.  Plumer's  description  of  them.  His  oratory 
seldom  was  what  might  properly  be  called  u  flow 
ery."  While  his  appeals  rose  not  unfrequently  to 
somewhat  lofty  flights  of  rhetoric,  he  used  figu 
rative  language  sparingly.  His  speeches,  occa 
sional  passages  excepted,  consisted  of  argumenta 
tive  reasoning,  which,  in  print,  appears  not  seldom 
somewhat  dry  and  heavy.  But  the  dramatic  fire 
of  delivery  peculiar  to  him  gave  that  reasoning  f 
vivacity  to  which  the  Senate,  then  a  very  small  anu 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  49 

quiet  body,  was  not  accustomed,  and  which  the 
good  Mr.  Pluraer  probably  considered  too  dashing 
for  the  place  and  the  occasion. 

Clay  had  scarcely  returned  to  Kentucky  when 
the  citizens  of  his  county  sent  him  again  to  the 
state  legislature  as  their  representative,  and  he  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  Assembly.  The  debates 
which  occurred  gave  him  welcome  opportunity  for 
taking  position  on  the  questions  of  the  time.  The 
comfortable,  calm,  and  joyous  prosperity  of  the 
country,  which  had  prevailed  under  Jefferson's  first 
and  at  the  beginning  of  his  second  administration, 
had  meanwhile  been  darkly  overclouded  by  foreign 
complications.  The  tremendous  struggle  between 
Napoleonic  France  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  led  by 
England,  was  raging  more  furiously  than  ever. 
The  profitable  neutral  trade  of  the  American  mer 
chant  marine  was  rudely  interrupted  by  arbitrary 
measures  adopted  by  the  belligerents  to  cripple 
each  other,  in  utter  disregard  of  neutral  rights. 
The  impressment  and  blockade  policy  of  Great 
Britain  struck  the  American  mind  as  particularly 
offensive.  Of  this  more  hereafter.  The  old  ani 
mosity  against  England,  which  had  somewhat 
cooled  during  the  short  period  of  repose  and  gen 
eral  cheerfulness,  was  fanned  again  into  flame. 
Especially  in  the  South  and  West  it  burst  out  in 
angry  manifestations.  In  the  Kentucky  legislature 
its  explosion  was  highly  characteristic  of  the  lin 
gering  backwoods  spirit.  It  was  moved  that  in  no 
court  of  Kentucky  should  any  decision  of  a  British 


50  HENRY  CLAY. 

court,  or  any  British  elementary  work  on  law,  be 
read  as  an  authority.  The  proposition  was  im 
mensely  popular  among  the  members  of  the  As 
sembly.  More  than  four  fifths  of  them  declared 
their  determination  to  vote  for  it.  Clay  was  as 
fiery  a  patriot  as  any  of  them ;  but  he  would  not 
permit  his  state  to  make  itself  ridiculous  by  a  puer 
ile  and  barbarous  demonstration.  He  was  young 
and  ambitious,  but  he  would  not  seek  popularity 
by  joining,  or  even  acquiescing,  in  a  cry  which  of 
fended  his  good  sense.  Without  hesitation  he  le|t 
the  Speaker's  chair  to  arrest  this  absurd  clamor. 
He  began  by  moving  as  an  amendment  that  the 
exclusion  of  British  decisions  and  opinions  from 
the  courts  of  Kentucky  should  apply  only  to  those 
which  had  been  promulgated  after  July  4,  1776, 
as  before  that  date  the  American  colonies  were  a 
part  of  the  British  dominion,  and  Americans  and 
"English  were  virtually  one  nation,  living  substan 
tially  under  the  same  laws.  Then  he  launched 
into  a  splendid  panegyric  upon  the  English  com 
mon  law,  and  an  impassioned  attack  upon  the  bar 
barous  spirit  which  would  "  wantonly  make  wreck 
of  a  system  fraught  with  the  intellectual  wealth  of 
centuries."  His  speech  was  not  reported,  but  it 
was  described  in  the  press  of  the  time  as  one  of 
extraordinary  power  and  beauty,  and  it  succeeded 
in  saving  for  Kentucky  the  treasures  of  English 
jurisprudence. 

Other  demonstrations  of  patriotism  on  his  part 
were  not  wanting.     In  December,  1808,  when  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  51 

cloud  had  grown  darker  still,  he  introduced  a  se 
ries  of  resolutions  expressing  approval  of  the 
embargo,  denouncing  the  British  Orders  in  Council 
by  which  the  rights  of  neutral  ships  were  arbitra 
rily  overruled,  pledging  to  the  general  government 
the  active  aid  of  Kentucky  in  anything  it  might 
determine  upon  to  resist  British  exactions,  and  de 
claring  that  President  Jefferson  was  entitled  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  country  "  for  the  ability,  upright 
ness,  and  intelligence  which  he  had  displayed  in 
the  management  both  of  our  foreign  relations  and 
domestic  concerns."  This  brought  to  his  feet  the 
Federalist  Humphrey  Marshall,  a  man  of  ability  and 
standing,  —  he  had  been  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States,  —  but  who  was  also  noted  for  the  bitterness 
of  his  animosities  and  the  violence  of  his  temper. 
Looking  down  upon  Clay  as  a  young  upstart,  he 
opposed  the  resolutions  with  extraordinary  viru 
lence,  but  commanded  only  his  own  vote  against 
them. 

Clay  then  offered  another  resolution,  recommend 
ing  that  the  members  of  the  legislature  should 
wear  only  such  clothes  as  were  the  product  of  do 
mestic  manufacture.  The  avowed  object  was  the 
encouragement  of  home  industry,  to  the  end  of 
making  the  country  industrially  independent  of  a 
hated  foreign  power.  This  was  Henry  Clay's  first 
effort  in  favor  of  a  protective  policy,  evidently 
designed  to  be  a  mere  demonstration.  Humphrey 
Marshall  at  once  denounced  the  resolution  as  the 
clap-trap  of  a  demagogue.  A  fierce  altercation 


52   '  HENRY   CLAY. 

followed,  and  then  came  the  customary  challenge 
and  the  "  hostile  encounter,"  in  which  both  com 
batants  were  slightly  wounded,  whereupon  the  sec 
onds  interfered  to  prevent  more  serious  mischief. 
Henry  Clay  may,  therefore,  be  said  to  have  fought 
and  bled  for  the  cause  of  protection  when  he  first 
championed  it,  by  a  demonstration  in  favor  of 
home  manufactures  as  against  those  of  a  foreign 
enemy. 

In  the  winter  of  1809-10  Clay  was  again  sent  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  fill  an  unex- 
pired  term  of  two  years,  Mr.  Buckner  Thurston 
having  resigned  his  seat.  In  April,  1810,  he  found 
an  opportunity  for  expressing  his  opinions  on  the 
"  encouragement  of  home  industry "  in  a  more 
tangible  and  elaborate  form.  To  a  bill  appropri 
ating  money  for  procuring  munitions  of  war  and 
for  other  purposes,  an  amendment  was  moved  in 
structing  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  purchase 
supplies  of  hemp,  cordage,  sail-cloth,  etc.,  and  to 
give  preference  to  articles  raised  or  manufactured 
on  American  soil.  The  discussion  ranged  over  the 
general  policy  of  encouraging  home  manufactures. 
Clay's  line  of  argument  was  remarkable.  A  large 
conception  of  industrial  development  as  the  result 
of  a  systematic  tariff  policy  was  entirely  foreign  to 
his  mind.  He  looked  at  the  whole  subject  from 
the  point  of  view  of  a  Kentucky  farmer,  who  found 
it  most  economical  to  clothe  himself  and  his  fam 
ily  in  homespun,  and  who  desired  to  secure  a  sure 
and  profitable  market  for  his  hemp.  Besides  this, 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  53 

he  thought  it  wise  that  the  American  people 
should,  in  case  of  war,  not  be  dependent  upon  any 
foreign  country  for  the  things  necessary  to  their 
sustenance  and  defense.  "  A  judicious  American 
farmer,"  said  he,  "  in  his  household  way  manufac 
tures  whatever  is  requisite  for  his  family.  He 
squanders  but  little  in  the  gewgaws  of  Europe. 
He  presents,  in  epitome,  what  the  nation  ought  to 
be  in  extenso.  Their  manufactories  should  bear 
the  same  proportion,  and  effect  the  same  object  in 
relation  to  the  whole  community,  which  the  part  of 
his  household  employed  in  domestic  manufacturing 
bears  to  the  whole  family.  It  is  certainly  desira 
ble  that  the  exports  of  the  country  should  continue 
to  be  the  surplus  production  of  tillage,  and  not  be 
come  those  of  manufacturing  establishments.  But 
it  is  important  to  diminish  our  imports ;  to  furnish 
ourselves  with  clothing,  made  by  our  own  industry ; 
and  to  cease  to  be  dependent,  for  the  very  coats  we 
wear,  upon  a  foreign,  and  perhaps  inimical,  coun 
try.  The  nation  that  imports  its  clothing  from 
abroad  is  but  little  less  dependent  than  if  it  im 
ported  its  bread." 

He  was  especially  anxious  not  to  be  understood 
as  favoring  a  large  development  of  manufacturing 
industries  with  a  numerous  population  of  opera 
tives.  Referring  to  the  indigence  and  wretchednesr 
which  had  been  reported  to  prevail  among  thfc 
laboring  people  of  Manchester  and  Birmingham, 
he  said :  "  Were  we  to  become  the  manufacturers 
of  other  countries,  effects  of  the  same  kind  might 


54  HENRY  CLAY. 

result.  But  if  we  limit  our  efforts  by  our  own 
wants,  the  evils  apprehended  would  be  found  to  be 
chimerical."  He  had  no  doubt  "  that  the  domestic 
manufactories  of  the  United  States,  fostered  by 
government,  and  aided  by  household  exertions, 
were  fully  competent  to  supply  us  with  at  least 
every  necessary  article  of  clothing."  He  was, 
therefore,  "  in  favor  of  encouraging  them,  not  to 
the  extent  to  which  they  are  carried  in  Europe, 
but  to  such  an  extent  as  will  redeem  us  entirely 
from  all  dependence  on  foreign  countries."  And, 
aside  from  clothing,  he  did  not  forget  to  mention 
that  "  our  maritime  operations  ought  not  to  de 
pend  upon  the  casualties  of  foreign  supply ;  "  that 
"  with  very  little  encouragement  from  government 
he  believed  we  should  not  want  a  pound  of  Russia 
hemp  ;  "  that  "  the  increase  of  the  article  in  Ken 
tucky  had  been  rapidly  great,"  there  having  been 
but  two  rope  manufactories  in  Kentucky  ten  years 
ago,  and  there  being  about  twenty  now,  and  about 
ten  or  fifteen  of  cotton-bagging. 

Thus  what  he  had  in  view  at  that  time  was  not 
the  building  up  of  larsfe  industries  bv  a  protective 

O  -.  «/  JL 

system,  but  just  a  little  manufacturing  to  run 
along  with  agriculture,  enough  to  keep  the  people 
in  clothes  and  the  navy  well  supplied  with  hemp, 
and  so  to  relieve  the  country  of  its  dependence 
on  foreign  countries  in  case  of  war.  For  this 
home  industry  he  wanted  encouragement.  What 
kind  of  encouragement  ?  In  his  speech  he  briefly 
referred  to  two  means  of  encouraging  manufac- 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  55 

tures :  bounties,  against  which,  as  he  was  aware, 
it  was  urged  that  the  whole  community  was  taxed 
for  the  benefit  of  only  a  part  of  it ;  and  protec 
tive  duties,  in  opposition  to  which  it  was,  as  he 
said,  "  alleged  that  you  make  the  interest  of  one 
part,  the  consumer,  bend  to  the  interest  of  the 
other  part,  the  manufacturer."  He  merely  stated 
these  points,  together  with  the  "  not  always  ad 
mitted  "  answer  that  "  the  sacrifice  is  only  tempo 
rary,  being  ultimately  compensated  by  the  greater 
abundance  and  superiority  of  the  article  produced 
by  the  stimulus."  He  did  not,  however,  commit 
himself  clearly  in  favor  of  either  proposition.  But 
he  thought  of  all  "  practical  forms  of  encourage 
ment,"  the  one  under  discussion,  providing  merely 
for  a  preference  to  be  given  to  home  products 
in  the  purchase  of  naval  supplies,  whenever  it 
could  be  done  without  material  detriment  to  the 
service,  was  certainly  innocent  enough  and  should 
escape  opposition.  He  was  also  in  favor  of  making 
advances,  under  proper  security,  to  manufacturers 
undertaking  government  contracts,  believing  "  that 
this  kind  of  assistance,  bestowed  with  prudence, 
will  be  productive  of  the  best  results." 

A  few  days  after  Clay  had  made  this  speech, 
Albert  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  pre 
sented  to  Congress  a  report  on  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  showed 
that  several  of  them  were  already  "  adequate  to 
the  consumption  of  the  country,"  —  among  them 
manufactures  of  wood,  leather,  and  manufactures 


56  HENRY  CLAY. 

of  leather,  soap,  and  candles,  etc.,  —  and  that  others 
were  supplying  either  the  greater,  or  at  least  a 
considerable,  part  of  the  consumption  of  the  coun 
try,  such  as  iron  and  manufactures  of  iron  ;  manu 
factures  of  cotton,  wool,  and  flax;  hats,  paper, 
several  manufactures  of  hemp,  gunpowder,  window 
glass,  several  manufactures  of  lead,  etc.  Home 
industry  was,  therefore,  practically  not  far  from 
the  point  of  development  indicated  by  Clay  as  the 
goal  to  be  reached.  In  response  to  the  request  of 
Congress,  to  suggest  methods  by  which  the  manu 
facturing  industries  might  be  encouraged,  Gallatin 
suggested  that  "  occasional  premiums  might  be 
beneficial ;  "  that  "  a  general  system  of  bounties 
was  more  applicable  to  articles  exported  than  to 
those  manufactured  for  home  consumption  ; "  that 
prohibitory  duties  were  "  liable  to  the  treble  ob 
jection  of  destroying  competition,  of  taxing  the 
consumer,  and  of  diverting  capital  and  industry 
into  channels  generally  less  profitable  than  those 
which  would  have  naturally  been  pursued  by  indi 
vidual  interest  left  to  itself."  A  moderate  increase 
of  duties  would  be  less  dangerous,  he  thought ;  but, 
if  adopted,  it  should  be  continued  during  a  certain 
period  to  avoid  the  injury  to  business  arising  from 
frequent  change.  But,  he  added,  "  since  the  com 
parative  want  of  capital  is  the  principal  obstacle 
to  the  introduction  and  advancement  of  manufac 
tures,"  and  since  the  banks  were  not  able  to  give 
sufficient  assistance,  "  the  United  States  might 
create  a  circulating  stock  bearing  a  low  rate  of 
interest,  and  lend  it  at  par  to  manufacturers." 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  57 

It  will  strike  any  reader  conversant  with  the  his 
tory  of  that  period,  that  Clay's  argument,  if  taken 
as  a  plea  for  protection,  was  far  less  decided  in 
tone  and  strong  in  reasoning  than  many  speeches 
which  had  been  made  in  Congress  on  that  side  of 
the  question  before ;  and  also  that  the  methods  of 
encouraging  manufacturing  industries  suggested  by 
him  were,  although  less  clearly  stated,  not  materi 
ally  different  from  those  suggested  by  Gallatin, 
who  was  on  principle  a  free  trader. 

This  topic  was,  in  fact,  only  one  of  a  great 
variety  of  subjects  to  which  he  devoted  his  atten 
tion.  He  evidently  endeavored  to  become  not  only 
a  brilliant  speaker,  but  a  useful,  working  legislator. 
During  the  same  session  he  made  a  report  on  a 
bill  granting  a  right  of  preemption  to  settlers  on 
public  land  in  certain  cases,  which  was  passed 
without  amendment.  Indian  affairs,  too,  received 
his  intelligent  attention.  A  bill  supplementary  to 
"  an  Act  to  regulate  trade  and  intercourse  with  the 
Indian  tribes  and  to  preserve  peace  on  the  fron 
tier,"  was  introduced  by  him  and  referred  to  a 
committee  of  which  he  was  made  chairman ;  and 
his  report  displayed  sentiments  as  wise  as  they 
were  humane.  More  conspicuous  and  important 
was  the  part  he  took  during  the  session  of  1810-11 
in  the  debates  on  the  occupation  of  West  Florida, 
and  on  a  bill  to  renew  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States. 

The  West  Florida  case  gave  him  his  first  in 
troduction  to  the  fieid  of  foreign  affairs,  and  at 


58  HENRY  CLAY. 

once  he  struck  the  key-note  of  that  national  feeling 
which  carried  the  American  people  into  the  War  of 
1812.  Florida  was  at  that  time  in  the  possession  of 
Spain.  The  boundaries  of  Louisiana,  as  that  ter 
ritory  had  passed  from  France  to  the  United  States 
in  1803,  were  ill  defined.  According  to  a  plausible 
construction  the  Louisiana  purchase  included  that 
part  of  Florida  to  the  west  of  the  Perdido  Kiver, 
which  was  commonly  called  West  Florida.  But 
the  United  States  had  failed  to  occupy  it,  leaving 
the  Spanish  garrisons  quietly  in  possession  of  their 
posts.  Negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  the  whole 
of  Florida  from  Spain  had  meanwhile  been  carried 
on,  but  without  success.  When  Napoleon  invaded 
Spain  and  that  kingdom  appeared  doomed  to  fall 
into  his  hands,  insurrectionary  movements  broke 
out  in  several  of  the  Spanish  American  provinces. 
West  Florida,  too,  was  violently  agitated.  The  rev 
olutionists  there,  among  whom  were  many  persons 
of  English  and  of  American  birth,  set  up  an  inde 
pendent  government  and  applied  for  recognition 
by  the  United  States.  There  were  rumors  of  Brit 
ish  intrigues  for  the  object  of  getting  West  Florida 
into  the  hands  of  England.  The  revolutionary 
excitement  in  the  territory  moreover  threatened 
seriously  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  frontier. 
President  Madison  thought  this  an  opportune  mo 
ment  to  settle  the  boundary  question.  He  issued  a 
proclamation  on  October  27,  1810,  asserting  the 
claim  of  the  United  States  to  West  Florida,  the 
delay  in  the  occupation  of  which  "was  not  the 


BEGINNINGS   OF  LEGISLATION.  59 

result  of  any  distrust  of  their  title,  but  was  occa 
sioned  by  their  conciliatory  views,"  and  announc 
ing  that  "  possession  should  be  taken  of  the  said 
territory  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  United 
States."  A  bill  was  then  introduced  in  the  Senate 
December  18,  1810,  providing  that  the  Territory 
of  Orleans,  one  of  the  two  territories  into  which 
Louisiana  was  divided,  "  shall  be  deemed,  and  is 
hereby  declared,  to  extend  to  the  river  Perdido," 
and  that  the  laws  in  force  in  the  Territory 
of  Orleans  should  extend  over  the  district  in 
question. 

The  Federalists,  who  always  had  a  deep-seated 
jealousy  of  the  growing  West,  attacked  the  steps 
taken  by  President  Madison  as  acts  of  spoliation 
perpetrated  upon  an  unoffending  and  at  the  time 
helpless  power,  and  their  spokesmen  in  the  Senate, 
Timothy  Pickering  of  Massachusetts,  and  Horsey 
of  Delaware,  strenuously  denied  that  the  United 
States  had  any  title  to  West  Florida.  Clay  took 
up  the  gauntlet  as  the  champion  not  merely  of 
the  administration,  but  of  his  country.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  Senate  he  put  forth  the  fullness 
of  his  peculiar  power.  "  Allow  me,  sir,"  said 
he,  with  severe  irony,  "  to  express  my  admiration 
at  the  more  than  Aristidean  justice  which,  in  a 
question  of  territorial  title  between  the  United 
States  and  a  foreign  nation,  induces  certain  gentle 
men  to  espouse  the  pretensions  of  the  foreign  na 
tion.  Doubtless,  in  any  future  negotiations,  she 
will  have  too  much  magnanimity  to  avail  herself  of 


60  HENRY  CLAY. 

these  spontaneous  concessions  in  her  favor,  made 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States." 
He  then  went  into  an  elaborate  historical  examina 
tion  of  the  question,  giving  evidence  of  much  re 
search,  and  set  forth  with  great  clearness  and  force 
of    statement.      The   case   he   made   out   for   the 
American    claim  was    indeed    plausible.     Accept 
ing  his  patriotic  assumptions,  his  defense  of   the 
President's  conduct  seemed  complete.     The  plea 
that  the  Spanish   government  was  sorely  pressed 
and  helpless  furnished  him  only  an  opportunity  for 
holding  up  his  opponents  as  the  sympathizers  of 
kings.     "  I  shall   leave  the  honorable  gentleman 
from  Delaware,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  mourn  over  the 
fortunes  of  the  fallen  Charles.     I  have  no  commis 
eration  for  princes.     My  sympathies  are  reserved 
for  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  and  I  own  that  the 
people  of  Spain  have  them  most  sincerely."       But 
he  had  a  still  sharper  arrow  in  his  quiver.     Mr. 
Horsey  had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  speak  of  the 
displeasure  which  the  steps  taken  by  the  President 
might  give  to  Great  Britain.     Clay  turned  upon 
him  with  an  outburst  which  resounded  through  the 
whole  country  :  — 

"  The  gentleman  reminds  us  that  Great  Britain,  the 
ally  of  Spain,  may  be  obliged,  by  her  connection  with 
that  country,  to  take  part  with  her  against  us,  and  to 
consider  this  measure  of  the  President  as  justifying  an 
appeal  to  arms.  Sir,  is  the  time  never  to  arrive,  when 
we  may  manage  our  own  affairs  without  the  fear  of 
insulting  his  Britannic  majesty  ?  Is  the  rod  of  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION,  61 

British  power  to  be  forever  suspended  over  our  heads  ? 
Does  Congress  put  an  embargo  to  shelter  our  rightful 
commerce  against  the  piratical  depredations  committed 
upon  it  on  the  ocean  ?  We  are  immediately  warned  of 
the  indignation  of  offended  England.  Is  a  law  of  non- 
intercourse  proposed  ?  The  whole  navy  of  the  haughty 
mistress  of  the  seas  is  made  to  thunder  into  our  ears0 
Does  the  President  refuse  to  continue  a  correspondence 
with  a  minister  who  violates  the  decorum  belonging  to 
his  diplomatic  character,  by  giving  and  repeating  a  de 
liberate  affront  to  the  whole  nation  ?  We  are  instantly 
menaced  with  the  chastisement  which  English  pride  will 
not  fail  to  inflict.  Whether  we  assert  our  rights  by  sea, 
or  attempt  their  maintenance  by  land,  —  whithersoever 
we  turn  ourselves,  this  phantom  incessantly  pursues  us. 
Already  it  has  too  much  influence  on  the  councils  of  the 
nation.  Mr.  President,  I  most  sincerely  desire  peace 
and  amity  with  England ;  I  even  prefer  an  adjustment 
of  differences  with  -her  before  one  with  any  other  nation. 
But  if  she  persists  in  a  denial  of  justice  to  us,  or  if  she 
avails  herself  of  the  occupation  of  West  Florida  to  com 
mence  war  upon  us,  I  trust  and  hope  that  all  hearts  will 
unite  in  a  bold  and  vigorous  vindication  of  our  rights." 

This  was  an  appeal  to  that  national  pride  which 
lie  himself  of  all  the  statesmen  of  his  time  felt 
most  strongly,  and  therefore  represented  most 
effectively.  Although  he  was  the  youngest  man  in 
the  Senate,  he  had  already  acquired  a  position  of 
leadership  among  the  members  of  the  Republican 
majority.  He  won  it  in  his  characteristic  fashion  ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  straightway  seized  it,  and  in  def 
erence  to  his  boldness  and  abiJ'ty  it  was  conceded 


62  HENRY  CLAY. 

to  him.  In  the  debate  on  the  West  Florida  ques 
tion  he  was  decidedly  the  most  conspicuous  and 
important  figure ;  and  when  the  veteran  Timothy 
Pickering,  in  a  speech  in  reply  to  Clay,  quoted  a 
document  which  years  before  »had  been  communi 
cated  to  the  Senate  in  confidence,  it  was  the  young 
Kentuckian  who  promptly  stepped  forward  as  the 
leader  of  the  majority,  offering  a  resolution  to  cen 
sure  Pickering  for  having  committed  a  breach  of 
the  rules,  and  the  majority  obediently  followed. 

From  this  debate  he  came  forth  the  most  strik 
ing  embodiment  of  the  rising  spirit  of  Young 
America.  But  the  manner  in  which  he  opposed 
the  re-charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
was  calculated  to  bring  serious  embarrassment 
upon  him  in  his  subsequent  career  ;  for  he  fur 
nished  arguments  to  his  bitterest  enemy.  The  first 
Bank  of  the  United  States  was  chartered  by  Con 
gress  in  1791,  the  charter  to  run  for  twenty  years. 
Its  establishment  formed  an  important  part  of 
Hamilton's  scheme  of  national  finance.  It  was  to 
aid  in  the  collection  of  the  revenue  ;  to  secure  to 
the  country  a  safe  and  uniform  currency  ;  to  serve 
as  a  trustworthy  depository  of  public  funds ;  to 
facilitate  the  transmission  of  money  from  one  part 
of  the  country  to  another ;  to  assist  the  govern 
ment  in  making  loans,  funding  bond  issues,  and 
other  financial  operations.  These  offices  it  had  on 
the  whole  so  well  performed  that  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Gallatin,  although  belonging  to  the 
political  school  which  had  originally  opposed  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  63 

Bank,  strongly  favored  the  renewal  of  its  charter. 
He  was  especially  anxious  to  preserve  the  powerful 
working  force  of  this  financial  agency  in  view  of 
necessities  which  the  impending  war  with  Great 
Britain  would  inevitably  bring  upon  the  govern 
ment. 

The  opposition  which  the  re-charter  met  in  Con 
gress  sprang  from  a  variety  of  sources.  Although 
for  twenty  years  the  constitutionality  of  the  charter 
had  been  practically  recognized  by  every  depart 
ment  of  the  government,  the  constitutional  ques 
tion  was  raised  again.  As  the  Bank  had  been 
organized  while  the  Federalists  were  in  power, 
and  many  of  its  officers  and  directors  belonged 
to  that  party,  its  management  was  accused  of  polit 
ical  partiality  in  the  distribution  of  its  favors  and 
accommodations.  Some  of  its  stock  was  owned 
by  British  subjects ;  hence  the  charge  that  its 
operations  were  conducted  under  too  strong  a 
foreign  influence.  All  these  things  were  used  to 
inflame  the  popular  mind,  and  the  opponents  of 
the  Bank  actually  succeeded  in  creating  so  strong 
a  current  of  feeling  against  it,  that  several  state 
legislatures  passed  resolves  calling  upon  members 
of  Congress  to  refuse  the  renewal  of  the  charter. 

Gallatin,  the  ablest  public  financier  of  his  time, 
and  indeed  one  of  the  few  great  finance  ministers 
in  our  history,  ranking  second  only  to  Hamilton, 
knew  the  importance  of  the  Bank  as  a  fiscal  agent 
of  the  government  at  that  time  too  well  not  to 
make  every  honorable  effort  to  sustain  it.  With- 


64  HENRY  CLAY. 

out  difficulty  he  refuted  the  charges  with  which  it 
was  assailed.  But  his  very  solicitude  told  against 
the  measure  he  advocated.  A  very  influential 
coterie,  represented  in  the  Cabinet  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy,  Smith,  and  especially  strong  in 
the  Senate,  entertained  a  deadly  hostility  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  sought  to  drive 
him  out  of  the  administration  by  defeating  every 
thing  he  thought  important  to  his  success  as  a 
public  financier.  There  is  no  reason  to  suspect 
that  Clay  was  a  party  to  this  political  intrigue. 
Nevertheless,  he  espoused  the  anti-Bank  cause  with 
the  whole  fervor  of  his  nature.  One  reason  was 
that  the  legislature  of  his  state  had  instructed  him 
to  do  so.  But  he  did  not  rest  his  opposition  upon 
that  ground.  He  sincerely  believed  in  many  of 
the  accusations  that  had  been  brought  against  the 
Bank  ;  to  his  imagination  it  appeared  as  the  em 
bodiment  of  a  great  money  power  that  might  be 
come  dangerous  to  free  institutions.  But  his  prin 
cipal  objection  was  the  unconstitutionality  of  the 
Bank,  and  this  he  urged  with  arguments  drawn  so 
deeply  from  his  conception  of  the  nature  of  the 
federal  government,  and  in  language  so  emphatic, 
as  to  make  it  seem  impossible  for  him  ever  to  escape 
from  the  principles  then  laid  down. 

"What  is  the  nature  of  this  government?  (he  said.) 
It  is  emphatically  federal,  vested  with  an  aggregate  of 
specified  powers  for  general  purposes,  conceded  by  ex 
isting  sovereignties,  who  have  themselves  retained  what 
is  not  so  conceded.  It  is  said  there  are  cases  in  which 


BEGINNINGS  IN  LEGISLATION.  65 

it  must  act  on  implied  powers.  This  is  not  contro 
verted,  but  the  implication  must  be  necessary,  and  ob 
viously  flow  from  the  enumerated  power  with  which  it  is 
allied.  The  power  to  charter  companies  is  not  specified 
in  the  grant,  and  I  contend  it  is  not  transferable  by 
mere  implication.  It  is  one  of  the  most  exalted  attri 
butes  of  sovereignty.  In  the  exercise  of  this  gigantic 
power  we  have  seen  an  East  India  Company  created, 
which  is  in  itself  a  sovereignty,  which  has  subverted 
empires  and  set  up  new  dynasties,  and  has  not  only 
made  war,  but  war  against  its  legitimate  sovereign ! 
Under  the  influence  of  this  power  we  have  seen  arise  a 
South  Sea  Company,  and  a  Mississippi  Company,  that 
distracted  and  convulsed  all  Europe,  and  menaced  a 
total  overthrow  of  all  credit  and  confidence,  and  uni 
versal  bankruptcy  !  Is  it  to  be  imagined  that  a  power 
so  vast  would  have  been  left  by  the  wisdom  of  the 
Constitution  to  doubtful  inference?  In  all  cases  where 
incidental  powers  are  acted  upon,  the  principal  and 
incidental  ought  to  be  congenial  with  each  other,  and 
partake  of  a  common  nature.  The  incidental  power 
ought  to  be  strictly  subordinate  and  limited  to  the  end 
proposed  to  be  attained  by  the  specific  power.  In  other 
words,  under  the  name  of  accomplishing  one  object 
which  is  specified,  the  power  implied  ought  not  to  be 
made  to  embrace  other  objects  which  are  not  specified 
in  the  Constitution.  If,  then,  you  could  establish  a 
bank  to  collect  and  distribute  the  revenue,  it  ought  to 
be  expressly  restricted  to  the  purpose  of  such  collec 
tion  and  distribution.  It  is  mockery  worse  than  usur 
pation  to  establish  it  for  a  lawful  object,  and  then  to 
extend  it  to  other  objects  which  are  not  lawful.  In  de 
ducing  the  power  to  create  corporations,  such  as  I  have 
5 


66  HENRY  CLAY. 

described  it,  from  the  power  to  collect  taxes,  the  relation 
and  condition  of  principal  and  incidental  are  prostrated 
and  destroyed.  The  accessory  is  exalted  above  the 
principal." 

The  strictest  of  strict  constructionists  could  not 
have  put  the  matter  more  strongly.  The  reader 
should  remember  this  argument,  to  compare  it  with 
the  reasons  given  by  Henry  Clay  a  few  years  later 
for  his  vote  in  favor  of  chartering  a  new  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  illustrating  the  change  which 
was  taking  place  not  only  in  his,  but  also  in  other 
men's  minds  as  to  the  constitutional  functions  of 
the  government. 

The  bill  to  re-charter  the  Bank  was  defeated 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  majority 
of  one,  and  in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote  of 
the  Vice-President.  It  is  not  unfair  to  assume 
that,  had  Clay  cast  his  vote  in  the  Senate,  and  also 
employed  his  influence  with  his  friends  in  the 
House  in  favor  of  the  bill,  he  would  have  saved  it, 
and  that,  in  this  sense,  his  opposition  made  him 
responsible  for  its  defeat. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   WAR    OF   1812. 

UPON  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  the  Senate, 
Henry  Clay  was  elected  a  member  of  the  national 
House  of  Representatives  for  the  Lexington  dis 
trict,  and  took  his  seat  on  November  4,  1811.  To 
him  this  was  a  welcome  change.  He  "  preferred 
the  turbulence  of  the  House  to  the  solemn  stillness 
of  the  Senate."  Naturally  it  was  a  more  congen 
ial  theatre  of  action  to  the  fiery  young  statesman. 
The  House  was  then  much  less  under  the  domina 
tion  of  its  committees  than  it  is  at  present.  It 
was  not  yet  muzzled  by  rules  permitting  only  now 
and  then  a  free  exchange  of  opinions.  It  still  pos 
sessed  the  character  of  a  debating  body  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  phrase.  The  House  of  Representa 
tives  then  was  what  the  Senate  afterwards  be 
came,  —  the  platform  to  which  the  people  looked 
for  the  most  thorough  discussion  of  their  interests, 
and  from  which  a  statesman  could  most  effectively 
impress  his  views  upon  the  public  mind.  More 
over,  it  was  in  the  House  that  the  Young  America  of 
the  time  gathered  in  force  to  make  their  strength 
and  spirit  tell  —  the  young  Republicans  who  had 
grown  somewhat  impatient  at  the  timidity  and  the 


68  HENRY  CLAY. 

over-anxious  considerations  of  economy  and  peace 
with  which  the  old  statesmen  of  their  own  party, 
in  their  opinion,  constantly  hampered  the  national 
ambition  and  energy.  Of  all  political  elements 
.this  was  to  Clay  the  most  congenial ;  he  was  its 
natural  leader,  and  no  sooner  had  he  appeared  in 
the  House  than  he  was  elected  Speaker  by  a  very 
large  majority.  It  was  well  understood  that  the 
duties  of  this  position  would  not  exclude  him  from 
participation  in  debate.  On  almost  every  occasion 
of  importance  he  availed  himself  of  the  committee 
of  the  whole  to  proclaim  his  opinions,  and  for  this 
the  stirring  events  of  the  time  furnished  ample  op 
portunity.  It  may  be  said  without  exaggeration 
that  it  was  his  leadership  in  the  House  which 
hastened  the  War  of  1812. 

Of  the  events  which  figured  as  the  immediate 
cause  of  that  war  only  a  short  summary  can  find 
room  here.  The  profitable  maritime  trade  which 
the  great  struggle  between  France  and  England 
had,  from  its  beginning,  thrown  into  the  hands  of 
American  merchants,  could  be  preserved  only  so 
long  as  the  United  States  remained  neutral  and 
as  their  neutral  rights  were  respected.  President 
Jefferson  earnestly  endeavored  to  remain  at  peace 
with  both  belligerents,  hoping  that  each  would  be 
anxious  to  propitiate,  or  at  least  not  to  offend  this 
Republic,  from  fear  of  driving  it  into  an  active  al 
liance  with  the  other.  In  this  he  was  disappointed. 
They  both  looked  upon  the  United  States  as  a 
weak  neutral,  whose  interests  could  be  injured,  and 
whose  feelings  could  be  outraged,  with  impunity. 


THE   WAR   OF  1812.  69 

England  and  France  sought  to  destroy  one  an 
other  not  only  by  arms,  but  by  commercial  restric 
tions.  In  1804  Great  Britain  declared  the  French 
coast  from  Ostend  to  the  Seine  in  a  state  of  block 
ade.  In  1806  the  blockade  was  extended  from 
the  Elbe  to  Brest.  It  thus  became  in  part  a  mere 
"  paper  blockade."  Napoleon  answered  by  the 
Berlin  Decree  of  November  21,  1806,  establishing 
the  "  continental  system,"  designed  to  stop  all  trade 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  European  continent. 
Thereupon  came  from  the  British  side  the  "  Orders 
in  Council  "  of  January  7  and  November  11,  1807, 
declaring  the  blockade  of  all  places  and  ports  be 
longing  to  France  and  her  allies,  from  which  the 
British  flag  was  excluded,  also  all  their  colonies  ; 
prohibiting  all  trade  in  the  produce  or  manufac 
tures  of  those  countries  and  colonies,  and  making 
subject  to  capture  and  condemnation  all  vessels 
trading  with  and  from  them,  and  all  merchandise 
on  board  such  vessels.  The  return  shot  on  the 
part  of  Napoleon  was  the  Milan  Decree  of  Decem 
ber  17,  1807,  declaring  that  every  ship,  of  what 
ever  nation,  and  whatever  the  nature  of  its  cargo, 
sailing  from  the  ports  of  England  or  her  colonies, 
or  of  countries  occupied  by  English  troops,  and 
every  ship  which  had  made  any  voyage  to  England, 
or  paid  any  tax  to  that  government,  or  submitted 
to  search  by  an  English  ship,  should  be  lawful 
prize. 

Between  these  decrees  and  counter-decrees,  which 
were  utterly  unwarranted  by  international  law,  the 


70  HENRY   CLAY. 

trade  of  neutrals  was  crushed  as  between  two  mill 
stones.  Indeed,  these  measures  were  purposely  di 
rected  by  the  two  great  belligerents  as  much  against 
neutral  trade  as  against  one  another.  Great  Britain 
would  not  let  her  maritime  commerce  slip  out  of 
her  grasp  to  build  up  a  commercial  rival  sailing 
under  a  neutral  flag.  She  would  therefore  permit 
no  trading  at  all  except  on  condition  that  it  should 
go  through  her  hands,  or  "  through  British  ports 
where  a  transit  duty  was  levied  for  the  British 
treasury."  Napoleon,  on  the  other  hand,  desired 
to  constrain  the  neutrals,  especially  the  United 
States,  to  become  his  active  allies,  by  forcing  upon 
them  the  alternative :  either  allies  or  enemies. 
There  must  be  no  neutrals,  or  if  there  were,  they 
must  have  no  rights.  Thus  American  ships  were 
taken  and  condemned  by  both  parties  in  great 
numbers,  and  American  maritime  trade  was  suffer 
ing  terribly.  But  this  was  not  all.  British  men- 
of-war  stopped  American  vessels  on  the  high  seas, 
and  even  in  American  waters,  to  search  them  for 
British  subjects  or  for  men  they  chose  to  consider 
as  such,  whom  they  pressed  into  the  British  naval 
service.  A  large  number  of  these  were  Americans, 
not  a  few  of  whom  refused  to  serve  under  the  Brit 
ish  flag,  and  horrible  stories  were  told  of  the  dun 
geons  into  which  they  were  thrown,  and  of  the 
cruelties  they  had  to  suffer. 

The  steps  taken  by  the  United  States  to  protect 
their  neutral  rights  were  those  of  a  peace-loving 
power  not  over-confident  of  its  own  strength.  Mad« 


THE  WAR  OF  1812.  71 

ison,  President  Jefferson's  Secretary  of  State,  made 
an  appeal  to  the  sense  of  right  and  fairness  of  the 
British  government.  That  innocent  effort  having 
proved  fruitless,  commercial  restrictions  were  re 
sorted  to,  —  first,  the  non-importation  Act  of  1806, 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  certain  articles  of 
British  production.  At  the  same  time  negotiation 
was  tried,  and  a  treaty  was  actually  agreed  upon 
by  the  American  envoys,  Monroe  and  Pinkney, 
and  the  British  government ;  but  as  it  contained 
no  abandonment  by  Great  Britain  of  the  right  of 
search  for  the  purpose  of  impressment,  President 
Jefferson  did  not  submit  it  to  the  Senate.  An  at 
tempt  at  further  negotiation  failed.  In  June,  1807, 
the  British  man-of-war  Leopard  fired  into  the 
United  States  frigate  Chesapeake,  and  overhauled 
her  for  British  deserters,  some  of  whom  claimed  to 
be  American  citizens,  an  outrage  which  created 
intense  excitement  and  indignation  all  over  the 
country.  An  explanation  was  demanded,  which  it 
took  four  years  to  obtain.  In  the  autumn  of  1807, 
Jefferson  called  an  extra  session  of  Congress,  and 
the  famous  embargo  was  resolved  upon,  forbidding 
the  departure,  unless  by  special  direction  of  the 
President,  of  any  American  vessel  from  any  port 
of  the  United  States  bound  to  any  foreign  coun 
try,  —  a  very  curious  measure,  intended  to  defend 
the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country  by  killing  that 
commerce  at  one  blow.  The  effect  was  not,  as  had 
been  hoped,  to  compel  the  belligerents  by  commer 
cial  inconvenience  at  once  to  respect  the  rights  of 


72  HENRY  CLAY. 

neutrals  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  great  dissatisfac 
tion  was  created  in  the  shipping  towns  of  the 
United  States  ;  for  most  of  the  ship-owners  and 
merchants  would  rather  take  what  little  chance  of 
trade  the  restrictive  measures  of  the  belligerents 
still  left  them,  than  let  their  ships  rot  at  the 
wharves  and  thus  accept  financial  ruin  from  the 
hands  of  their  own  government. 

The  embargo  would  indeed  have  been  proper 
enough  as  a  measure  preparatory  for  immediate 
war.  But  Jefferson  was  a  man  of  peace  by  tem 
perament  as  well  as  philosophy.  His  favorite  gun 
boat  policy  appears  like  mere  boyish  dabbling  in 
warlike  contrivance.  His  nature  shrank  from  the 
conflict  of  material  forces.  The  very  thought  of 
war,  with  its  brutal  exigencies  and  sudden  vicissi 
tudes,  distressed  and  bewildered  his  mind.  His 
whole  political  philosophy  contemplated  lasting- 
peace  with  the  outside  world.  War,  as  a  reign  of 
force,  was  utterly  hostile  to  the  realization  of  his 
political  ideals.  When  he  saw  that  the  comfort 
able  repose  and  the  general  cheerfulness  which 
prevailed  during  his  first  term  were  overclouded 
by  foreign  complications,  and  that  the  things  he 
feared  most  were  almost  sure  to  come,  he  greeted 
the  election  of  his  successor,  which  took  place  in 
1808,  as  a  deliverance ;  and  without  waiting  for 
Madison's  inauguration,  virtually  dropped  the  reins 
of  government,  leaving  all  further  responsibility  to 
Congress  and  to  the  next  President. 

In  February,  1809,  Congress  resolved  to  raise 


THE   WAR  OF  1812.  73 

the  embargo,  and  to  substitute  for  it  commercial 
non-intercourse  with  England  and  France  until 
the  obnoxious  orders  and  decrees  should  be  with 
drawn.  A  gleam  of  sunshine  seemed  to  break 
through  the  clouds  when,  in  April,  a  provisional 
arrangement,  looking  to  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Orders  in  Council  in  case  of  the  reopening  of  com 
mercial  intercourse,  and  to  an  atonement  for  the 
Chesapeake  outrage,  was  agreed  upon  by  the  Sec 
retary  of  State  and  Mr.  Erskine,  the  British  Min 
ister.  President  Madison  at  once  issued  a  procla 
mation  declaring  commercial  intercourse  with  Great 
Britain  restored.  But  the  ships  had  hardly  left 
their  harbors,  when  the  general  rejoicing  was 
rudely  interrupted.  It  turned  out  that  Erskine,  a 
well-meaning  and  somewhat  enthusiastic  young 
man,  had  gone  beyond  his  instructions.  He  was 
sternly  disavowed  and  recalled  by  the  British  gov 
ernment.  A  new  Minister,  Mr.  Jackson,  was  sent 
in  his  place,  who,  in  discussing  the  transactions 
between  Erskine  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  made 
himself  so  offensive  that  further  communication 
with  him  was  declined.  The  situation  was  darker 
than  ever.  Non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  was 
resumed  ;  but  a  partial  change  of  ministry  in  Eng 
land  —  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley  succeeding  Mr. 
Canning  in  the  Foreign  Office  —  seemed  to  open  a 
new  chance  for  negotiation.  To  aid  this,  Congress 
on  May  1,  1810,  passed  an  act  providing  that  com 
mercial  non-intercourse  with  the  belligerent  pow 
ers  should  cease  with  the  end  of  the  session,  only 


74  HENRY   CLAY. 

armed  ships  being  excluded  from  American  ports ; 
and  further,  that,  in  case  either  of  them  should  re 
call  its  obnoxious  orders  or  decrees,  the  President 
should  announce  the  fact  by  proclamation,  and  if 
the  other  did  not  do  the  same  within  three  months, 
the  non-intercourse  act  should  be  revived  against 
that  one,  —  a  measure  adopted  only  because  Con 
gress,  in  its  helplessness,  did  not  know  what  else 
to  do. 

The  conduct  of  France  had  meanwhile  been  no 
less  offensive  than  that  of  Great  Britain.  On  all 
sorts  of  pretexts  American  ships  were  seized  in  the 
harbors  and  waters  controlled  by  French  power. 
A  spirited  remonstrance  on  the  part  of  Armstrong, 
the  American  Minister,  was  answered  by  the  issue 
of  the  Rambouillet  Decree  in  May,  1810,  ordering 
the  sale  of  American  vessels  and  cargoes  seized, 
and  directing  like  confiscation  of  all  American 
vessels  entering  any  ports  under  the  control  of 
France.  This  decree  was  designed  to  stop  the 
surreptitious  trade  that  was  still  being  carried  on 
between  England  and  the  continent  in  American 
bottoms.  When  it  failed  in  accomplishing  that 
end,  Napoleon  instructed  his  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  Cbampagny,  to  inform  the  American  Min 
ister  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees  were  re 
voked,  and  would  cease  to  have  effect  on  Novem 
ber  1,  1810,  if  the  English  would  revoke  their  Or 
ders  in  Council,  and  recall  their  new  principles  of 
blockade,  or  if  the  United  States  would  "  cause 
their  rights  to  be  respected  by  the  English,"  — in 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  75 

the  first  place  restore  the  non-intercourse  act  as  to 
Great  Britain.  This  declaration  was  made  by 
Champagny  to  the  American  representative  on 
August  5.  The  British  government,  being  noti 
fied  of  this  by  the  American  Minister,  declared  on 
September  29,  that  Great  Britain  would  recall 
the  Orders  in  Council  when  the  revocation  of  the 
French  decrees  should  have  actually  taken  effect, 
and  the  commerce  of  neutrals  should  have  been  re 
stored.  Thus  France  would  effectually  withdraw 
her  decrees  when  Great  Britain  had  withdrawn  her 
Orders  in  Council ;  and  Great  Britain  would  with 
draw  her  Orders  in  Council  when  France  had  ef 
fectually  withdrawn  her  decrees. 

Madison,  however,  leaning  toward  France,  as 
was  traditional  with  the  Republican  party,  and 
glad  to  grasp  even  at  the  semblance  of  an  advan 
tage,  chose  to  regard  the  withdrawal  of  the  Berlin 
and  Milan  Decrees  as  actual  and  done  in  jrood 

O 

faith,  and  announced  it  as  a  matter  of  fact  on  No 
vember  1,  1810.  French  armed  ships  were  no 
longer  excluded  from  American  ports.  On  Feb 
ruary  2,  1811,  the  non-importation  act  was  revived 
as  to  Great  Britain.  In  May  the  British  Court  of 
Admiralty  delivered  an  opinion  that  no  evidence 
existed  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
Decrees,  which  resulted  in  the  condemnation  of  a 
number  of  American  vessels  and  their  cargoes. 
Additional  irritation  was  caused  by  the  capture, 
off  Sandy  Hook,  of  an  American  vessel  bound 
to  France,  by  some  fresh  cases  of  search  and  im- 


76  HENRY  CLAY. 

pressment,  and  by  an  encounter  between  the  Amer 
ican  frigate  President  and  the  British  sloop  Little 
Belt,  which  fired  into  one  another,  the  British  ves 
sel  suffering  most. 

But  was  American  commerce  safe  in  French 
ports?  By  no  means.  The  French  Council  of 
Prize  had  continued  to  condemn  American  vessels, 
as  if  the  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees  were  in  undi- 
minished  force  ;  outrages  on  American  ships  by 
French  men-of-war  and  privateers  went  on  as  be 
fore,  and  Napoleon  refused  reparation  for  the  con 
fiscations  under  the  Rambouillet  Decree.  The  pre 
tended  French  concession  was,  therefore,  a  mere 
farce. 

Truly,  there  were  American  grievances  enough. 
Over  nine  hundred  American  ships  had  been 
seized  by  the  British,  and  more  than  five  hundred 
and  fifty  by  the  French.  The  number  of  Amer 
ican  citizens  impressed  as  British  seamen,  or  kept 
in  prison  if  they  refused  to  serve,  was  reported 
to  exceed  six  thousand,  and  it  was  estimated  that 
there  were  as  many  more  of  whom  no  informa 
tion  had  been  obtained.  The  remonstrances  of 
the  American  government  had  been  treated  with 
haughty  disdain.  By  both  belligerents  the  United 
States  had  been  kicked  and  cuffed  like  a  mere  in 
terloper  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  who  had 
no  rights  entitled  to  respectful  consideration.  Their 
insolence  seemed  to  have  been  increased  by  the 
irresolution  of  the  American  government,  the  dis 
traction  of  counsel  in  Congress,  and  the  division 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  77 

of  sentiment  among  the  people,  resulting  in  a 
shifting,  aimless  policy,  which  made  the  attitude 
of  the  Republic  appear  weak,  if  not  cowardly,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  European  powers. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs  when  Henry 
Clay  entered  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
was  made  its  Speaker.  In  his  annual  message 
Madison  held  fast  to  the  fiction  that  France  had 
withdrawn  the  offensive  decrees,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  complained  that  the  French  government 
had  not  shown  any  intention  to  make  reparation 
for  the  injuries  inflicted,  and  he  hinted  at  a  re 
vival  of  non-intercourse.  But  the  sting  of  the 
message  was  directed  against  Great  Britain,  who 
had  refused  to  withdraw  the  Orders  in  council,  and 
continued  to  do  things  "  not  less  derogatory  to  the 
dearest  of  our  national  rights  than  vexatious  to  our 
trade,"  virtually  amounting  to  "  war  on  our  law 
ful  commerce."  Madison  therefore  advised  that 
the  United  States  be  put  "  into  an  armor  and  at 
titude  demanded  by  the  crisis,  and  corresponding 
with  the  national  spirit  and  expectations."  This 
had  a  warlike  sound,  while,  in  fact,  Madison  was 
an  exceedingly  unwarlike  man.  He  ardently 
wished,  and  still  hoped  to  prevent,  an  armed  con 
flict.  To  make  him  adopt  a  war  policy  required 
pushing. 

But  the  young  Republican  leaders  came  to  the 
front  to  interpret  the  4<  national  spirit  and  expec 
tation."  They  totally  eclipsed  the  old  chiefs  by 
their  dash  and  brilliancy.  Foremost  among  them 


78  HENRY  CLAY. 

stood  Henry  Clay ;  then  John  C.  Calhoun,  Wil 
liam  Lowndes,  Felix  Grundy,  Langdon  Cheves,  and 
others.  They  believed  that,  if  the  American  Re 
public  was  to  maintain  anything  like  the  dignity  of 
an  independent  power,  and  to  preserve,  or  rather 
regain,  the  respect  of  mankind  in  any  degree,  —  ay, 
its  self-respect,  —  it  must  cease  to  submit  to  humil 
iation  and  contemptuous  treatment ;  it  must  fight, 
—  fight  somebody  who  had  wronged  or  insulted  it. 

The  Republicans,  having  always  a  tender  side  for 
France,  and  the  fiction  of  French  concessions  be 
ing  accepted,  the  theory  of  the  war  party  was  that, 
of  the  two  belligerents,  England  had  more  inso 
lently  maltreated  the  United  States.  Rumors  were 
spread  that  an  Indian  war  then  going  on,  and  re 
sulting  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe  on  November 
7,  1811,  was  owing  to  English  intrigues.  Adding 
this  to  the  old  Revolutionary  reminiscences  of 
British  oppression,  it  was  not  unnatural  t  that  the 
national  wrath  should  generally  turn  against  Great 
Britain. 

Madison  was  all  his  life,  even  in  his  youth,  some 
what  like  a  timid  old  man.  He  did  not  desire 
war  ;  neither  did  he  venture  to  resist  the  warlike 
current.  He  was  quite  willing  to  have  Congress 
make  a  policy  for  him,  and  to  follow  its  lead.  In 
this  respect  he  could  not  have  found  a  man  more 
willing  to  urge,  or  drive,  or  lead  him,  than  Henry 
Clay,  who  at  once  so  composed  the  important  com- 
mittees  of  the  House  as  to  put  them  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  war  party.  Then  early  in  the  session 


THE   WAR   OF  1812.  79 

he  took  the  floor  in  favor  of  putting  at  the  disposal 
of  the  President  a  much  larger  army  than  the 
President  himself  had  recommended.  Every  word 
of  his  speech  breathed  war.  He  spoke  of  war  not 
as  an  uncertain  event,  but  as  something  sure  to 
come.  As  to  the  reason  for  it,  he  pointed  out 
that  "  the  real  cause  of  British  aggression  was  not 
to  distress  an  enemy,  but  to  destroy  a  rival."  To 
that  end,  "  not  content  with  seizing  upon  all  our 
property  which  falls  within  her  rapacious  grasp, 
the  personal  rights  of  our  countrymen  —  rights 
which  forever  must  be  sacred  —  are  trampled  upon 
and  viqlated  "  through  the  "  impressment  of  our 
seamen."  Was  the  question  asked  :  "  What  are 
we  to  gain  by  war  ?  "  With  ringing  emphasis  he 
replied :  "  What  are  we  not  to  lose  by  peace  ? 
Commerce,  character,  a  nation's  best  treasure, 
honor !  "  With  such  words  of  fire  he  stirred  the 
House  and  the  people.  The  character  and  result 
of  the  war,  too,  were  predetermined  in  his  imagi 
nation.  It  was  to  be  an  aggressive  war,  a  war  of 
glorious  conquest.  He  saw  the  battalions  of  the 
Republic  marching  victoriously  through  Canada 
and  laying  siege  to  doomed  Quebec.  His  dream 
was  of  a  peace  dictated  at  Halifax. 

Not  only  the  regular  army  was  increased,  but 
the  President  was  authorized  to  accept  and  employ 
50,000  volunteers.  Then  a  bill  was  introduced 
providing  for  the  building  of  ten  new  frigates, 
which  gave  Clay  an  opportunity  for  expressing  his 
views  as  to  what  the  American  navy  should  be. 


80  HENRY  CLAY. 

A  large  portion  of  the  war  party,  Western  and 
Southern  men,  insisted  upon  confining  the  conflict 
with  England  to  operations  on  land.  The  navy 
was  not  popular  with  them.  They  denounced  na 
vies  generally  as  curses  to  the  countries  which  pos 
sessed  them  ;  as  very  dangerous  to  popular  liberty ; 
as  sources  of  endless  expense  without  correspond 
ing  benefit ;  as  nurseries  of  debt,  corruption,  de 
moralization,  and  ruin.  Especially  in  the  war 
then  in  prospect  a  navy  would  be  absolutely  use 
less,  —  a  curious  prediction  in  the  light  of  subse 
quent  events.  Cheves  and  Lowndes  spoke  with 
ability  in  favor  of  a  maritime  armament,  but 
Clay's  speech  took  a  wider  sweep.  He  easily  dis 
posed  of  the  assertion  that  a  navy  was  as  danger 
ous  to  free  institutions  as  a  standing  army,  and 
then  laid  down  his  theory  upon  which  the  naval 
force  of  the  United  States  should  be  organized. 
It  should  not  be  such  "  a  force  as  would  be  capa 
ble  of  contending  with  that  wrhich  any  other  na 
tion  is  able  to  bring  on  the  ocean,  —  a  force  that, 
boldly  scouring  every  sea,  would  challenge  to  com 
bat  the  fleets  of  other  powers,  however  great.'* 
To  build  up  so  extensive  an  establishment,  he  ad 
mitted,  was  impossible  at  the  time,  and  would  prob 
ably  never  be  desirable.  The  next  species  of  naval 
power,  which,  "  without  adventuring  into  distant 
seas,  and  keeping  generally  on  our  coasts,  would 
be  competent  to  beat  off  any  squadron  which  might 
be  attempted  to  be  permanently  stationed  in  our 
waters,"  he  did  deem  desirable.  Twelve  ships  of 


THE   WAR   OF  1812.  81 

the  line  and  fifteen  to  twenty  frigates,  he  thought, 
would  be  sufficient ;  and  if  the  present  state  of 
the  finances  forbade  so  large  an  outlay,  he  was  at 
least  in  favor  of  beginning  the  enlargement  of  the 
navy  with  such  an  end  in  view.  But  what  he 
would  absolutely  insist  upon  was  the  building  up 
of  a  force  "  competent  to  punish  any  single  ship 
or  small  naval  expedition  "  attempting  to  "  endan 
ger  our  coasting  trade,  to  block  up  our  harbors,  or 
to  lay  under  contribution  our  cities,"  such  a  force 
being  "  entirely  within  the  compass  of  our  means  " 
at  the  time.  "  Because  we  cannot  provide  against 
every  danger,"  he  asked,  "  shall  we  provide  against 
none?" 

This  was  a  sensible  theory,  in  its  main  prin 
ciples  applicable  now  as  well  as  then  :  to  keep  a 
force  not  so  expensive  as  to  embarrass  the  coun 
try  financially,  not  so  large  as  to  tempt  the  gov 
ernment  into  unnecessary  quarrels,  but  sufficient 
for  doing  such  duty  of  high  police  as  might  be 
necessary  to  protect  our  harbors  and  coasts  against 
casual  attack  and  annoyance,  and  to  "  show  the 
flag,"  and  serve  as  a  sign  of  the  national  power  in 
foreign  parts,  where  American  citizens  or  Ameri 
can  property  might  occasionally  need  protection. 
With  great  adroitness  Clay  enlisted  also  the  sym 
pathies  of  the  Western  members  in  behalf  of  the 
navy,  by  showing  them  the  importance  of  protect 
ing  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  the  only  outlet 
for  the  products  of  the  Western  country. 

The  war  spirit  in  the  country  gradually  rose,  and 


82  HENRY  CLAY. 

manifested  itself  noisily  in  public  meetings,  pass 
ing  resolutions,  and  memorializing  Congress.  It 
was  increased  in  intensity  by  a  sensational  "  ex 
posure,"  a  batch  of  papers  laid  before  Congress  by 
the  President  in  March,  1812.  They  had  been 
sold  to  the  government  by  John  Henry,  an  Irish 
adventurer,  and  disclosed  a  confidential  mission  to 
New  England,  undertaken  by  Henry  in  1809  at 
the  request  of  Sir  James  Craig,  the  Governor  of 
Canada,  to  encourage  a  disunion  movement  in  the 
Eastern  States.  This  was  the  story.  Whatever  its 
foundation,  it  was  believed,  and  greatly  increased 
popular  excitement.  Yet  the  administration  seemed 
to  be  still  halting,  and  the  war  party  felt  obliged 
to  push  it  forward.  Their  programme  was  in  the 
first  place  a  short  embargo  of  thirty  days,  upon 
which  Clay,  as  their  leader,  had  a  conference  with 
the  President.  Madison  agreed  to  recommend  an 
embargo  of  sixty  days  to  Congress,  and  this  he  did 
in  a  confidential  message  on  April  1.  The  House 
passed  a  corresponding  bill  the  same  day ;  the 
Senate  the  next  day  increased  the  time  of  the  em 
bargo  to  ninety  days,  which  the  House  accepted, 
and  on  April  4  the  bill  became  a  law.  The 
moderate  Republicans  and  the  Federalists  had 
procured  the  extension  of  the  time,  still  hoping  for 
a  pacific  turn  of  negotiation.  But  Clay  vehemently 
declared  that  the  embargo  meant  war  and  nothing 
but  war.  When  he  was  reminded  of  the  danger  of 
such  a  contest,  and  of  the  circumstance  that  the 
conduct  of  France  furnished  cause  of  war  equally 


THE  WAR  OF  1812.  83 

grave,  he  burst  out  in  thundering  appeals  to  Amer 
ican  courage  and  honor.  "  Weak  as  we  are,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  we  could  fight  France  too,  if  neces 
sary,  in  a  good  cause,  —  the  cause  of  honor  and  in 
dependence."  We  had  complete  proof,  he  added, 
"  that  Great  Britain  would  do  everything  to  de 
stroy  us.  Resolution  and  spirit  were  our  only 
security.  War,  after  all,  was  not  so  terrible  a 
thing.  There  was  no  terror  in  it  except  its  nov 
elty.  Such  gentlemen  as  chose  to  call  these  senti 
ments  Quixotic,  he  pitied  for  their  deficient  sense 
of  honor." 

All  over  the  country  the  embargo  was  under 
stood  as  meaning  an  immediate  preparation  for 
war.  In  the  South  and  the  West  and  in  Pennsyl 
vania  enthusiastic  demonstrations  expressed  and 
further  excited  the  popular  feeling.  It  was  a  re 
markable  circumstance  that  the  war  spirit  was 
strongest  where  the  people  were  least  touched  in 
their  immediate  interests  by  the  British  Orders  in 
Council  and  the  impressment  of  seamen,  while  the 
population  engaged  in  maritime  commerce,  who  had 
suffered  most  and  who  feared  a  total  annihilation 
of  their  trade  by  the  war,  were  in  favor  of  pacific 
measures,"  and  under  the  lead  of  the  Federalists 
violently  denounced  the  measures  of  the  govern 
ment  and  the  war  party. 

In  May,  1812,  President  Madison  was  nomi 
nated  for  reelection  by  the  congressional  caucus. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  was  dragooned  into  the  war 
policy  by  Clay  and  his  followers  with  the  threat 


84  HENRY  CLAY. 

that,  unless  he  yielded  to  their  views,  another  can 
didate  for  the  presidency  would  be  chosen.  This 
Clay  denied,  and  there  was  no  evidence  to  dis 
credit  his  denial.  Madison  was  simply  swept  into 
the  current  by  the  impetuosity  of  Young  America. 
He  himself  declared  in  1827,  in  a  letter  to  Wheaton, 
that  "  the  immediate  impulse  "  to  the  declaration  of 
war  was  given  by  a  letter  from  Lord  Castlereagh 
to  the  British  Minister  at  Washington,  Forster. 
which  was  communicated  to  the  President,  and 
which  stated  "  that  the  Orders  in  Council,  to  which 
we  had  declared  we  would  not  submit,  would  not 
be  repealed  without  the  repeal  of  the  internal 
measures  of  France.  With  this  formal  notice 
no  choice  remained,  but  between  war  and  degra 
dation." 

John  Randolph  made  a  last  attempt  to  prevent 
the  extreme  step.  Having  heard  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  preparing  a  message  to  Congress  recom 
mending  a  declaration  of  war,  he  tried  to  force  a 
discussion  in  the  House  by  offering  a  resolution, 
"that  it  was  inexpedient  to  resort  to  war  with 
Great  Britain."  He  began  to  debate  it  on  the 
spot.  Clay,  as  Speaker,  interrupted  him,  and  put 
to  the  House  the  question  whether  it  would  pro 
ceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  resolution.  The 
House  voted  in  the  negative,  and  Randolph  was 
silenced.  On  June  1  the  President's  war  mes 
sage  came.  On  June  18  a  bill  in  accordance 
with  it,  which  had  passed  both  Houses,  was  signed 
by  the  President,  who  proclaimed  hostilities  the 
next  day. 


THE  WAR  OF  1812.  85 

Thus  Young  America,  led  by  Henry  Clay,  carried 
their  point.  But  there  was  something  disquiet 
ing  in  their  victory.  The  majority  they  com 
manded  in  Congress  was  not  so  large  as  a  majority 
for  a  declaration  of  war  should  be.  In  the  House5 
Pennsylvania  and  the  states  south  and  west  of  it 
gave  62  votes  for  the  war,  and  32  against  it;  the 
states  north  and  east  of  Pennsylvania  gave  17 
yeas  and  32  nays,  —  in  all  79  for  and  49  against 
war.  This  showed  a  difference  of  sentiment  ac 
cording  to  geographical  divisions.  Not  even  all  the 
Republicans  were  in  favor  of  war.  Thirteen  North 
ern  and  two  Southern  Republicans  voted  against 
it.  In  the  Senate  the  vote  stood  19  to  13,  and 
among  the  latter  were  six  Republicans.  So  large  a 
minority  had  an  ugly  look.  It  signified  that  there 
would  be  a  peace  party  in  the  United  States  during 
the  war.  And  indeed,  those  who  called  themselves 
the  "  friends  of  peace,  liberty,  and  commerce  "  did 
make  themselves  felt  in  obstructing  military  prep 
arations  and  subscriptions  to  the  national  loan.  In 
some  parts  of  New  England  this  opposition  assumed 
an  almost  seditious  character. 

Nor  were  the  United  States  in  any  sense  well 
prepared  for  a  war  with  a  first  class  power.  The 
Republic  was  still  comparatively  weak  in  military 
resources.  The  population,  including  slaves,  had 
not  yet  reached  eight  millions.  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee  were  the  westernmost  states.  Indi 
ana  was  still  a  territory,  and  part  of  it  in  the  pos 
session  of  Indian  tribes.  The  battle  of  Tippecanoe 


86  HENRY  CLAY. 

had  been  fought  the  year  before  on  its  soil.  The 
regular  army  had  scarcely  10,000  effective  men. 
Volunteer  and  militia  levies  had  to  be  mainly  de 
pended  upon,  and  to  command  these  the  number 
of  experienced  officers,  aside  from  superannuated 
"  Revolutionary  veterans,"  was  extremely  small. 
The  naval  force  consisted  of  a  few  old  frigates  and 

O 

some  smaller  vessels.  These  were  all  the  means 
at  hand,  when  war  was  declared,  to  force  Great 
Britain,  through  a  rapid  conquest  of  Canada,  to 
respect  the  maritime  rights  of  the  United  States. 

All  this  looked  unpromising  enough.  But  Clay 
believed  in  the  power  of  enthusiasm.  His  voice 
resounded  through  the  land.  His  eloquence  filled 
volunteer  regiments  and  sent  them  off  full  of  fight 
ing  spirit  and  hope  of  victory.  From  place  to 
place  he  went,  reassuring  the  doubters,  arousing 
the  sluggards,  encouraging  the  patriots,  —  in  one 
word,  "  firing  the  national  heart."  But,  after  all, 
his  enthusiasm  could  not  beat  the  enemy.  His 
conquest  of  Canada  turned  out  to  be  a  much  more 
serious  affair  than  he  had  anticipated.  Active 
operations  began.  The  first  attempt  at  invasion, 
made  by  General  Hull  on  the  Western  frontier, 
resulted  in  the  ignominious  surrender  of  that  com 
mander,  with  his  whole  force,  to  the  British,  at 
Detroit.  Other  attempts  on  the  Niagara  River 
and  on  Lake  Champlain  ended  but  little  less  in- 
gloriously.  These  failures  were  not  only  military 
disasters,  but  were  calculated  to  bury  in  ridicule 
the  advocates  of  the  war  with  their  glowing  pre- 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  87 

dictions  of  the  taking  of  Quebec  and  the  peace 
dictated  at  Halifax.  Only  the  little  navy  did 
honor  to  the  country.  The  American  men-of-war 
gathered  laurels  in  one  encounter  after  another,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  world.  It  was  a  revelation 
to  England  as  well  as  to  the  American  people. 

Meanwhile  the  situation  was  curiously  changed 
by  other  events.  Before  the  declaration  of  war  was 
known  in  Europe,  Napoleon  tried  to  increase  the 
excitement  of  the  Americans  against  England,  and 
to  propitiate  their  feeling  with  regard  to  France,  by 
causing  to  be  exhibited  to  the  American  Minister 
a  decree  pretending  to  have  been  signed  on  April 
28,  1810,  but  really  manufactured  for  the  occasion, 
to  the  effect  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees 
should,  as  to  the  United  States,  be  considered  as 
having  been  of  no  force  since  November  1,  1810. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  England  the  mercantile  in 
terest  and  the  manufacturing  population  had  at 
last  become  dissatisfied  with  the  prohibition  of 
the  American  trade.  There  had  been  a  parlia 
mentary  inquiry  into  the  effects  of  the  Orders  in 
Council,  and  the  government,  pressed  by  motions 
in  Parliament  for  their  repeal,  had  finally  yielded 
and  withdrawn  the  obnoxious  measures  on  June 
23,  1812,  reserving  the  right  to  renew  them,  should 
the  Americans  persist  in  a  policy  hostile  to  British 
interests.  But  five  days  before,  unknown  to  the 
British  government,  the  United  States  had  de 
clared  war.  The  Orders  in  Council  had  no  doubt 
been  considered  the  principal  cause  for  that  war. 


88  HENRY  CLAY. 

Now  Great  Britain  had  shown  herself  ready  to  re 
move  that  cause.  Nothing  remained  but  the  com 
plaint  about  the  impressment  of  American  seamen. 
On  that  ground  the  war  went  on,  —  with  what 
success  at  first,  we  have  seen. 

It  is  reported  that  Madison  seriously  contem 
plated  making  Clay  commanding  general  of  the 
forces  in  the  field,  and  that  Gallatin  dissuaded  him, 
saying :  "  But  what  shall  we  do  without  Clay  in 
Congress  ?  "  Indeed,  the  next  session  showed  how 
much  he  was  needed  there. 

When  Congress  met  in  the  fall  of  1812  the 
general  situation  was  dismal  in  the  extreme.  On 
land  there  had  been  nothing  but  defeat  and  humili 
ation.  On  the  sea  some  splendid  achievements,  in 
deed,  in  duels  between  ship  and  ship,  but  110  pros 
pect  of  success  in  a  struggle  between  navy  and 
navy.  England  had  not  yet  begun  to  put  forth  her 
colossal  power.  What  was  to  happen  when  she 
should !  With  all  this,  the  offered  withdrawal  of 
the  Orders  in  Council  stood  as  conclusive  proof  of 
the  fact  that,  had  the  United  States  only  waited 
a  little  longer  with  the  declaration  of  war,  the  prin 
cipal  cause  of  complaint  might  have  been  peace 
ably  removed.  What  an  opportunity  for  an  able 
opposition !  Madison  was  indeed  reflected  to  the 
presidency  in  the  fall  of  1812,  by  an  electoral  vote 
of  128  against  89  ;  but  the  opposition,  especially 
bitter  in  New  England,  had  no  reason  to  be  dis« 
couraged  by  that  proportion. 

Bills  to  increase  the  navy  were  swiftly  passed, 


THE  WAR  OF  1812,  89 

almost  without  objection,  for  the  Federalists  them 
selves,  especially  those  from  the  shipping  states, 
desired  a  more  efficient  naval  force.  But  on  a  bill 
for  reinforcing  the  army  the  attack  came.  At  first 
it  was  tame  enough.  The  bill  had  already  passed 
by  a  large  majority  to  a  third  reading,  when  Josiah 
Quincy,  of  Massachusetts,  the  leader  of  the  Fed 
eralists  in  the  House,  made  an  assault  upon  the 
whole  war  policy,  which  in  brilliancy  of  diction  and 
bitterness  of  spirit  has  hardly  ever  been  excelled 
in  our  parliamentary  history.  He  depicted  the 
attempted  invasion  of  Canada  as  a  buccaneering 
expedition,  an  act  of  bloodthirsty  cruelty  against 
unoffending  neighbors.  Its  failure  was  a  dis 
grace,  but  "the  disgrace  of  failure  was  terrestrial 
glory  compared  with  the  disgrace  of  the  attempt." 
If  an  army  were  put  into  the  field  strong  enough 
to  acccomplish  the  conquest  of  Canada,  it  would 
also  be  strong  enough  to  endanger  the  liberties  of 
the  American  people.  In  view  of  the  criminality 
of  the  attempt,  he  thanked  God  that  the  people 
of  New  England  —  referring  to  their  vote  against 
Madison  in  the  preceding  national  election  - — "had 
done  what  they  could  to  vindicate  themselves  and 
their  children  from  the  burden  of  this  sin."  This 
was  not  the  way  to  obtain  an  early  and  honorable 
peace.  "  Those  must  be  very  young  politicians," 
he  exclaimed,  his  eye  fixed  on  the  youthful  Speaker 
of  the  House,  —  "  their  pin-feathers  not  yet  grown, 
and,  however  they  may  flutter  on  this  floor,  they 
are  not  yet  fledged  for  any  high  or  distant  flight, 


90  HENRY  CLAY. 

who  think  that  threats  and  appealing  to  fear  are 
the  ways  of  producing  any  disposition  to  negoti 
ate  in  Great  Britain,  or  in  any  other  nation  which 
understands  what  it  owes  to  its  own  safety  and 
honor."  The  voluntary  yielding  of  England  with 
regard  to  the  Orders  in  Council  had  shown  how 
peace  might  have  been  secured.  But  he  was  con 
vinced  that  the  administration  did  not  want  peace. 
The  administration  party  had  its  origin  and  found 
its  daily  food  in  hatred  of  Great  Britain.  He  re 
viewed  the  whole  diplomatic  history  of  the  United 
States  to  show  that  Republican  influence  had  always 
been  bent  upon  forcing  a  quarrel  with  England, 
and  that  during  Jefferson's  and  Madison's  admin 
istrations  there  had  been  constant  plotting  against 
peace  and  friendship.  This  review  he  followed 
with  a  scathing  exposure  of  the  subserviency  of  the 
administration  to  the  audacious  and  insulting  du 
plicity  of  Bonaparte,  and  the  shameful  humiliation 
of  the  government  in  consequence  of  it.  Finally, 
he  declared  that,  while  he  would  unite  with  any 
man  for  purposes  of  maritime  and  frontier  defense, 
he  would  unite  with  no  one  nor  with  any  body  of 
men  "  for  the  conquest  of  any  country,  either  as  a 
means  of  carrying  on  this  war  or  for  any  other 
purpose.  " 

This  savage  attack  struck  deeply.  It  was  fol 
lowed  by  several  speeches  on  the  same  side,  insist 
ing  that  the  quarrel  between  the  United  States  and 
England  had,  after  the  revocation  of  the  Orders  in 
Council,  been  narrowed  down  to  the  impressment 


THE  WAR  OF  1812.  91 

question,  and  that  the  United  States  would  never 
have  gone  to  war  on  that  account  alone. 

Then  Clay,  the  foremost  of  the  young  politicians 
whose  "  pin-feathers  were  not  yet  grown,"  took  up 
the  gauntlet.  Quincy  and  his  followers  had  made 
a  mistake  not  unusually  made  under  such  circum 
stances.  They  had  overshot  the  mark.  The  most 
serious  danger  of  an  opposition  in  time  of  war  is 
to  expose  themselves  to  the  suspicion  of  a  lack  of 
patriotism.  This  danger  they  did  not  avoid. 

The  report  we  have  of  Clay's  speech,  delivered 
on  January  8  and  9,  1813,  although  not  perfect,  is 
sufficient  to  stamp  this  as  one  of  his  greatest  per 
formances.  He  did  not  find  it  difficult  to  defend 
Jefferson  and  Madison  —  who,  indeed,  had  toiled 
enough  to  maintain  peaceable  relations  with  every 
body —  against  the  charge  of  having  wantonly  pro 
voked  a  war  with  England.  It  was,  he  said,  the  in 
terest,  as  well  as  the  duty,  of  the  administration  to 
preserve  peace.  Nothing  was  left  untried  to  that 
end.  The  defensive  measures  —  non -importation 
and  embargo  —  adopted  to  protect  our  maritime 
trade,  were  "  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  conciliation." 
Any  "  indication  of  a  return  to  the  public  law  and 
the  path  of  justice  on  the  part  of  either  belliger 
ent  was  seized  upon  with  avidity  by  the  adminis 
tration  ; "  so  the  friendly  disposition  shown  by 
Erskine.  But  —  here  the  orator  skillfully  passed 
to  the  offensive  — what  was  the  conduct  of  the  op- 
I>osition  meanwhile  ?  When  peaceful  experiments 
were  undergoing  a  trial,  the  opposition  was  "the 


92  HENRY  CLAY. 

champion  of  war,  the  proud,  the  spirited,  the  sole 
repository  of  the  nation's  honor,  denouncing  the 
administration  as  weak,  feeble,  pusillanimous,"  and 
incapable  of  being  kicked  into  war  :  — 

"  When,  however,  foreign  nations,  perhaps  emboldened 
by  the  very  opposition  here  made,  refuse  to  listen  to 
amicable  appeals ;  when,  in  fact,  war  with  one  of  them 
has  become  a  matter  of  necessity,  demanded  by  our 
independence  and  our  sovereignty,  behold  the  opposi 
tion  veering  round  and  becoming  the  friends  of  peace 
and  commerce,  telling  of  the  calamities  of  war,  the  waste 
of  the  public  treasury,  the  spilling  of  innocent  blood  — 
*  Gorgons,  hydras,  and  chimeras  dire.'  Now  we  see 
them  exhibiting  the  terrific  form  of  the  roaring  king 
of  the  forest ;  now  the  meekness  and  humility  of  the 
lamb.  They  are  for  war  and  no  restrictions,  when  the 
administration  is  for  peace.  They  are  for  peace  and 
restrictions,  when  the  administration  is  for  war.  You 
find  them,  sir,  tacking  with  every  gale,  displaying  the 
colors  of  every  party  and  of  all  nations,  steady  only  in 
one  unalterable  purpose,  —  to  steer,  if  possible,  into  the 
haven  of  power." 

Over  the  charge  that  the  administration  had 
been  duped  by  France,  a  very  sore  point,  he  skipped 
nimbly,  ridiculing  the  idea  of  French  influence  as 
well  as  the  tremendous  denunciations  of  Bona 
parte,  in  which  the  opposition  were  fond  of  indulg 
ing.  With  these  denunciations  he  dexterously 
coupled  an  attack  made  by  Quincy  upon  Jefferson ; 
and  then,  to  inflame  the  party  spirit  of  wavering 
Republicans,  he  burst  out  in  that  famous  eulogy 


THE  WAR  OF  1812.  93 

on  Jefferson  which  has  long  figured  in  our  school- 
books  :  — 

"  Neither  his  retirement  from  public  office,  nor  his 
eminent  services,  nor  his  advanced  age,  can  exempt  this 
patriot  from  the  coarse  assaults  of  party  malevolence. 
Sir,  in  1801  he  snatched  from  the  rude  hand  of  usurpa 
tion  the  violated  Constitution  of  his  country,  and  that  is 
his  crime.  He  preserved  that  instrument  in  form,  and 
substance,  and  spirit,  a  precious  inheritance  for  genera 
tions  to  come  ;  and  for  this  he  can  never  be  forgiven. 
How  vain  and  impotent  is  party  rage  directed  against 
such  a  man  !  He  is  not  more  elevated  by  his  lofty  resi 
dence  upon  the  summit  of  his  favorite  mountain  than 
he  is  lifted,  by  the  serenity  of  his  mind,  and  the  con 
sciousness  of  a  well-spent  life,  above  the  malignant  pas 
sions  and  bitter  feelings  of  the  day." 

Did  the  opposition  speak  of  the  danger  to  pop 
ular  liberty  arising  from  a  large  army  ?  They 
were  the  same  party  that  had  tried  to  strangle 
popular  liberty  with  the  alien  and  sedition  laws. 
Did  the  opposition,  as  Quincy  had  done,  accuse 
the  Republican  leaders  of  cabinet  plots,  presiden 
tial  plots,  and  all  manner  of  plots  for  the  gratifica 
tion  of  personal  ambition ?  "I  wish,"  he  replied 
with  stinging  force,  "that  another  plot  —  a  plot 
that  aims  at  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union  — 
had  only  the  same  imaginary  existence."  Then, 
with  a  moderation  of  tone  which  made  the  arraign 
ment  all  the  more  impressive,  he  pointed  at  the 
efforts  made  to  alienate  the  minds  of  the  people 
of  New  England  from  the  Union. 


94  HENRY  CLAY. 

On  the  second  day  of  his  speech  he  discussed 
the  causes  of  the  war.  "  The  war  was  declared," 
he  said,  "  because  Great  Britain  arrogated  to  her 
self  the  pretension  of  regulating  our  foreign  com 
merce,  under  the  delusive  name  of  retaliatory  Or 
ders  in  Council ;  because  she  persisted  in  the  prac 
tice  of  impressing  American  seamen ;  because  she 
had  instigated  the  Indians  to  commit  hostilities 
against  us;  and  because  she  refused  indemnity 
for  her  past  injuries  upon  our  commerce.  The 
war,  in  fact,  was  announced,  on  our  part,  to  meet 
the  war  which  she  was  waging  on  her  part."  Why 
not  declare  war  against  France,  also,  for  the  inju 
ries  she  inflicted  upon  American  commerce,  and 
the  outrageous  duplicity  of  her  conduct  ?  "I  will 
concede  to  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  everything  they 
ask  about  the  injustice  of  France  toward  this  coun 
try.  I  wish  to  God  that  our  ability  was  equal  to 
our  disposition  to  make  her  feel  the  sense  that  we 
entertain  of  that  injustice."  But  one  war  at  a 
time  was  enough.  Great  Britain,  he  argued,  de 
manded  more  than  the  repeal  of  the  French  de 
crees  as  to  America ;  she  demanded  their  repeal  as 
to  Great  Britain  and  her  allies,  also,  before  giving 
up  the  Orders  in  Council ;  and  she  gave  them  up 
only  in  consequence  of  an  inquiry,  reluctantly  con 
sented  to  by  the  ministry,  into  the  effect  of  our 
non-importation  law,  or  by  reason  of  our  warlike 
attitude,  or  both. 

But  now  came  the  ticklish  question  :  Were  the 
Orders  in  Council  the  decisive  cause  of  the  war,  and 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  95 

should  their  withdrawal  end  it?  Does  it  follow, 
he  answered,  that  what  in  the  first  instance  would 
have  prevented  the  war  should  also  terminate  it  ? 
By  no  means.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  was  an 
example,  begun  for  one  object  and  prosecuted  for 
another.  He  declared  that  he  had  always  con 
sidered  the  impressment  of  American  seamen  as 
the  most  serious  aggression,  no  matter  upon  what 
principle  Great  Britain  defended  her  policy.  "  It 
is  in  vain,"  he  said,  "  to  set  up  the  plea  of  neces 
sity,  and  to  allege  that  she  cannot  exist  without 
the  impressment  of  her  seamen.  The  naked  truth 
is,  she  comes,  by  her  press-gangs,  on  board  of  our 
vessels,  seizes  our  native  as  well  as  naturalized  sea 
men,  and  drags  them  into  her  service.  It  is  wrong 
that  we  should  be  held  to  prove  the  nationality 
of  our  seamen  ;  it  is  the  business  of  Great  Brit 
ain  to  identify  her  subjects.  The  colors  that  float 
from  the  mast-head  should  be  the  credentials  of 
our  seamen."  Then  he  put  forth  his  whole  melo 
dramatic  power,  drawing  tears  from  the  eyes  of 
his  listeners. 

"  It  is  impossible  that  this  country  should  ever  aban 
don  the  gallant  tars  who  have  won  for  us  such  splendid 
trophies.  Let  me  suppose  that  the  genius  of  Columbia 
should  visit  one  of  them  in  his  oppressor's  prison,  and 
attempt  to  reconcile  him  to  his  forlorn  and  wretched 
condition.  She  would  say  to  him,  in  the  language  of 
gentlemen  on  the  other  side  :  '  Great  Britain  intends 
you  no  harm  ;  she  did  not  mean  to  impress  you,  but 
one  of  her  own  subjects.  Having  taken  you  by  mis- 


96  HENRY  CLAY. 

take,  I  will  remonstrate  and  try  to  prevail  upon  her,  by 
peaceable  means,  to  release  you  ;  but  I  cannot,  my  son, 
fight  for  you.'  If  he  did  not  consider  this  mockery,  the 
poor  tar  would  address  her  judgment  and  say :  *  You 
owe  me,  my  country,  protection  ;  I  owe  you,  in  return, 
obedience.  I  am  not  a  British  subject ;  I  am  a  native 
of  Massachusetts,  where  lives  my  aged  father,  my  wife, 
my  children.  I  have  faithfully  discharged  my  duty. 
Will  you  refuse  to  do  yours  ?  '  Appealing  to  her  pas 
sions,  he  would  continue :  *  I  lost  this  eye  in  fighting 
under  Truxton  with  the  Insurgente  ;  I  got  this  scar  be 
fore  Tripoli ;  I  broke  this  leg  on  the  Constitution,  when 
the  Guerriere  struck.'  If  she  remained  still  unmoved, 
he  would  break  out,  in  the  accents  of  mingled  distress 
and  despair,  — 

'  Hard,  hard  is  my  fate !     Once  I  freedom  enjoyed, 
Was  as  happy,  as  happy  could  be ! 
Oh,  how  hard  is  my  fate,  how  galling  these  chains ! ' 

"  I  will  not  imagine  the  dreadful  catastrophe  to  which 
he  would  be  driven  by  an  abandonment  of  him  to  his 
oppressor.  It  will  not  be,  it  cannot  be,  that  his  country 
will  refuse  him  protection  !  If  there  be  any  descrip 
tion  of  rights,  which,  more  than  any  other,  should  unite 
all  parties  in  all  quarters  of  the  Union,  it  is  unquestion 
ably  the  rights  of  the  person.  No  matter  what  his  voca 
tion,  whether  he  seeks  subsistence  amid  the  dangers  of 
the  sea,  or  draws  them  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or 
from  the  humblest  occupations  of  mechanic  life,  where- 
ever  the  sacred  rights  of  an  American  freeman  are  as 
sailed,  all  hearts  ought  to  unite  and  every  arm  be  braced 
to  vindicate  his  cause." 

After  this,  the  objections  to  the  invasion  of 
Canada  were  easily  disposed  of.  Canada  was 


THE   WAR   OF  1812.  97 

simply  a  base  of  supplies  and  of  operations  for 
the  British.  Moreover,  "  what  does  a  state  of  war 
present?  The  united  energies  of  one  people  ar 
rayed  against  the  combined  energies  of  another  ; 
a  conflict  in  which  each  party  aims  to  inflict  all 
the  injury  it  can,  by  sea  and  land,  upon  the  terri 
tories,  property,  and  citizens  of  another,  subject 
only  to  the  rules  of  mitigated  war  practiced  by 
civilized  nations."  This  was  his  final  appeal :  — 

"  The  administration  has  erred  in  the  steps  to  restore 
peace  ;  but  its  error  has  not  been  in  doing  too  little,  but 
in  betraying  too  great  a  solicitude  for  that  event.  An 
honorable  peace  is  attainable  only  by  an  efficient  war. 
My  plan  would  be,  to  call  out  the  ample  resources  of  the 
country,  give  them  a  judicious  direction,  prosecute  the 
war  with  the  utmost  vigor,  strike  wherever  we  can  reach 
the  enemy,  at  sea  and  on  land,  and  negotiate  the  terms 
of  a  peace  at  Quebec  or  at  Halifax.  We  are  told  that 
England  is  a  proud  and  lofty  nation,  which,  disdaining 
to  wait  for  danger,  meets  it  half  way.  Haughty  as  she 
is,  we  once  triumphed  over  her,  and,  if  we  do  not 
listen  to  the  counsels  of  timidity  and  despair,  we  shall 
again  prevail.  In  such  a  cause,  with  the  aid  of  Provi 
dence,  we  must  come  out  crowned  with  success.  But 
if  we  fail,  let  us  fail  like  men,  lash  ourselves  to  our  gal 
lant  tars,  and  expire  together  in  one  common  struggle, 
fighting  for  Free  Trade  and  Seamen's  Rights  ! " 

This  speech  produced  a  profound  impression  in 
the  House.  What  became  known  of  it  outside 
rang  like  a  bugle-call  all  over  the  country.  The 
increase  of  the  army  was  voted  by  Congress.  The 

7 


98  HENRY  CLAY. 

war  spirit  rose  again  with  renewed  ardor.  But 
what  news  came  from  the  front?  In  the  West, 
General  Winchester  was  overpowered  at  French- 
town  on  February  22.  His  command  had  to  sur 
render  and  part  of  it  was  massacred.  General 
Harrison  found  himself  obliged  to  fall  back.  On 
the  Niagara  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  an  expedition 
was  pushed  forward,  which,  on  April  27,  resulted 
in  the  temporary  capture  of  York  (now  Toronto), 
but  no  lodgment  was  effected.  While  the  navy 
had  struck  some  splendid  blows,  the  British  gradu 
ally  increased  their  force  and  made  the  superior 
ity  of  their  power  tell.  They  strengthened  their 
blockade  of  New  York,  of  the  Delaware,  and  the 
Chesapeake.  British  ships  ascended  the  bays  and 
the  rivers,  and  landed  parties  to  plunder  and  set 
fire  to  villages  on  the  banks.  Philadelphia,  Bal 
timore,  and  Annapolis  became  alarmed  for  their 
safety.  In  Virginia,  a  slave  insurrection  was 
feared.  The  port  of  Charleston  was  strictly 
blockaded. 

Every  day  it  became  clearer,  too,  that  the  Mad 
ison  administration  was  ill-fitted  for  times  of  great 
exigency.  The  war  and  navy  departments  were 
wretchedly  managed.  There  was  incapacity  above 
and  below.  The  Treasury  was  in  a  state  of  ex 
haustion.  By  April  1,  the  requisitions  of  the  war 
and  navy  departments  must  have  gone  unsatisfied 
had  not  Astor,  Parish,  and  Girard,  three  rich  for 
eigners,  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  government. 
New  England  Federalism  grew  constantly  more 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  99 

threatening  in  its  hostility  to  the  war  policy.  In 
addition  to  all  this,  tidings  of  evil  import  arrived 
from  Europe.  Napoleon's  disastrous  retreat  from 
Moscow  brought  forth  new  European  combinations 
against  him  in  aid  of  England.  More  and  more 
English  ships  and  English  veteran  regiments  might 
then  be  spared  from  the  European  theatre  of  war, 
to  be  hurled  against  the  United  States.  The  pros 
pect  of  dictating  a  peace  at  Quebec  or  Halifax 
grew  exceedingly  dim. 

Just  then  a  ray  of  peace  flashed  from  an  unex 
pected  quarter.  When,  late  in  the  summer  of 
1812,  the  Emperor  of  Russia  learned  that  the 
United  States  had  declared  war  against  Great 
Britain,  it  struck  him  as  very  inconvenient  that  his 
ally,  England,  should  be  embarrassed  by  this  out 
side  affair  while  Napoleon  was  invading  Russia, 
and  while  a  supreme  effort  seemed  to  be  required 
to  prevent  him  from  bringing  all  Europe  to  his 
feet.  Alexander  resolved  to  offer  himself  as  a  me 
diator.  His  Chancellor,  Romanzoff,  on  September 
21,  opened  the  matter  to  the  American  Minister 
at  St.  Petersburg,  John  Quincy  Adams,  as  well  as 
to  the  British  envoy.  At  the  same  time,  the  Rus 
sian  Minister  at  Washington,  Daschkoff,  was  in 
structed  to  communicate  to  President  Madison  the 
Emperor's  wish.  This  he  did  in  March,  1813, 
a  few  days  after  Madison's  second  inauguration. 
Madison  received  the  proposition  with  exceeding 
gladness.  Without  waiting  to  learn  whether  this 
Russian  mediation  was  acceptable  to  England,  he 


100  HENRY  CLAY. 

forthwith  nominated  as  ministers,  to  act  jointly 
with  John  Quincy  Adams  in  negotiating  a  peace, 
Albert  Gallatin,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  Senator  Bayard  of  Delaware,  a  patriotic  Fed 
eralist,  and  a  man  of  excellent  abilities.  They 
sailed  for  St.  Petersburg  early  in  May,  and  took 
instructions  with  them  in  which  impressments  and 
illegal  blockades  were  designated  as  the  chief 
causes  of  the  war.  With  regard  to  the  impress 
ment  question,  the  instructions  said  :  "  If  this  en 
croachment  is  not  provided  against,  the  United 
States  have  appealed  to  arms  in  vain.  If  your  ef 
forts  to  accomplish  it  should  fail,  all  further  nego 
tiation  will  cease,  and  you  will  return  home  with 
out  delay." 

The  envoys  reached  St.  Petersburg  in  July,  and 
learned  that  Great  Britain  was  not  inclined  to  ac 
cept  any  mediation.  The  haughty  mistress  of  the 
sea  would  not  submit  her  principles  of  blockade 
and  her  claim  to  the  right  of  impressment  and 
search  to  the  judgment  of  any  third  party.  She 
preferred  to  treat  with  the  United  States  directly ; 
and  when  the  Russian  offer  of  mediation  was  re 
newed,  the  British  government  sent  a  proposal 
of  direct  negotiation  to  Washington.  This  was 
promptly  accepted,  and  the  President  appointed 
for  that  purpose  a  new  commission,  consisting  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Bayard,  Clay,  Jonathan  Rus 
sell,  then  Minister  of  the  United  States  to  Sweden, 
and  Gallatin. 

Clay  had  again  been  elected  Speaker,  in  May, 


THE  WAR   OF  1812.  101 

1813,  when  the  new  Congress  met.  He  had  again 
done  all  he  could  to  "  fire  the  national  heart,"  this 
time  by  a  resolution  to  inquire  into  certain  acts  of 
barbarous  brutality  committed  by  the  British  and 
their  savage  allies  during  the  winter  and  spring. 
But  when  the  President  urged  upon  him  a  place 
in  the  peace  commission,  he  accepted.  His  subse 
quent  conduct  permits  the  guess  that  his  motive 
in  accepting  it  was  his  anxious  desire  to  prevent 
a  humiliating  peace.  On  January  14,  1814,  he  re 
signed  the  speakership  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  and  soon  afterward  he  set  out  on  one  of 
the  strangest  diplomatic  missions  of  our  time. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GHENT   AND   LONDON. 

THE  British  government,  when  offering  to  nego 
tiate  directly  with  the  United  States,  had  desig 
nated  London,  or  Qottenburg  in  Sweden,  as  the 
places  where  the  negotiators  might  meet.  Its  pur 
pose  was  to  isolate  the  United  States  as  much  as 
possible.  It  desired  to  be  left  alone  in  dealing 
with  the  Americans,  and  to  shut  out  all  influences 
friendly  to  them.  To  this  end,  London  and  Got- 
tenburg  seemed  to  be  convenient  localities.  Fi 
nally,  however,  it  agreed  that  the  peace  commis 
sioners  should  meet  at  Ghent,  in  the  Netherlands. 
The  American  envoys  had  all  arrived  there  on 
July  6,  1814.  There  were  among  them  men  so 
different  in  point  of  character  and  habits  and 
ways  of  thinking,  that  to  make  them  agree  among 
themselves  might  have  appeared  almost  as  difficult 
as  to  make  a  satisfactory  treaty  with  England. 
The  principal  clash  was  between  Adams  and  Clay. 
John  Quincy  Adams  was  then  forty-seven  years 
old,  with  all  his  peculiarities  fully  matured,  —  a 
man  of  great  ability,  various  knowledge,  and  large 
experience ;  of  ardent  patriotism,  and  high  princi 
ples  of  honor  and  duty ;  brimful  of  courage,  and  a 


GHENT  AND   LONDON.  103 

pugnacious  spirit  of  contention ;  precise  in  his 
ways ;  stiff  and  cold  in  manners  ;  tenacious  of  his 
opinions  ;  irritable  of  temper ;  inclined  to  be  sus 
picious,  and  harsh  in  his  judgments  of  others,  and, 
in  the  Puritan  spirit,  also  severe  with  himself ;  one 
of  the  men  who  keep  diaries,  and  in  them  regu 
lar  accounts  of  their  own  as  well  as  other  people's 
doings.  Two  days  after  the  commissioners  had  all 
arrived  at  Ghent,  he  wrote  in  his  journal :  — 

"I  dined  again  at  the  table  d'hote  at  one.  The  other 
gentlemen  dined  together  at  four.  They  sit  after  din 
ner,  and  drink  bad  wine  and  smoke  cigars,  which  neither 
suits  my  habits  nor  my  health,  and  absorbs  time  which 
I  can  ill  spare.  I  find  it  impossible,  even  with  the  most 
rigorous  economy  of  time,  to  do  half  the  writing  that  I 
ought." 

He  had  been  a  Federalist,  but  his  patriotic  soul 
had  taken  fire  at  the  injuries  and  insults  his  coun 
try  had  suffered  from  Great  Britain.  For  this 
reason  he  had  broken  with  his  party,  exposed  him 
self  to  the  ill-will  of  his  neighbors,  and  supported 
Jefferson's  and  Madison's  administrations  in  their 
measures  of  resistance  to  British  pretensions. 

Clay  was  ten  years  younger  than  Adams,  cer 
tainly  no  less  enthusiastic  an  American  patriot, 
nor  less  spirited,  impulsive,  and  hot  -  tempered  ; 
having  already  acquired  something  of  that  imperi- 
ousness  of  manner  which,  later  in  his  career,  was 
so  much  noticed ;  quick  in  forming  opinions,  and 
impatient  of  opposition,  but  warm  -  hearted  and 
genial ;  no  Puritan  at  all  in  his  ways ;  rather  in- 


104  HENRY  CLAY. 

dined  to  "  sit  after  dinner,"  whether  the  wine  was 
good  or  bad ;  and,  while  willing  to  work,  also  bent 
on  having  his  full  share  of  the  enjoyments  of  this 
world.  "  Just  before  rising,"  Adams  wrote  in  his 
Diary  one  day,  "  I  heard  Mr.  Clay's  company  re 
tiring  from  his  chamber.  I  had  left  him  with  Mr. 
Russell,  Mr.  Bentzon,  and  Mr.  Todd,  at  cards. 
They  parted  as  I  was  about  to  rise."  John  Quincy 
Adams  played  cards,  too,  but  it  was  that  solemn 
whist,  which  he  sometimes  went  through  with  the 
conscientious  sense  of  performing  a  diplomatic 
duty.  No  wonder  the  prim  New  Englander  and 
the  lordly  Kentuckian,  one  the  representative  of 
eastern,  the  other  of  western,  ways  of  thinking, 
when  they  had  struck  points  of  disagreement, 
would  drift  into  discussions  much  more  animated 
than  was  desirable  for  the  task  they  had  in  com 
mon.  Russell,  a  man  of  ordinary  ability,  was 
much  under  the  influence  of  Clay,  while  Bayard, 
although  not  disposed  to  quarrel  with  anybody, 
showed  not  seldom  a  disposition  to  stick  to  his  opin 
ion,  when  it  differed  from  those  of  his  colleagues, 
with  polite  but  stubborn  firmness.  "  Each  of  us," 
wrote  Mr.  Adams,  "  takes  a  separate  and  distinct 
view  of  the  subject  -  matter,  and  each  naturally 
thinks  his  own  view  of  it  the  most  important."  A 
commission  so  constituted  would  hardly  have  been 
fit  to  accomplish  a  task  of  extraordinary  delicacy, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  conspicuous  ability,  the 
exquisite  tact,  the  constant  good-nature,  the  "  play 
fulness  of  temper,"  as  Mr.  Adams  expressed  it, 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  105 

and  the  inexhaustible  patience  of  Albert  Gallatin, 
a  man  whose  eminence  among  his  contemporaries 
has  probably  never  been  appreciated  as  it  deserves. 
Without  in  the  least  obtruding  himself,  he  soon 
became  the  peacemaker,  the  moderating  and  guid 
ing  mind  of  the  commission. 

The  British  envoys,  who  arrived  at  Ghent  on 
August  6,  having  permitted  the  Americans  to  wait 
for  them  one  full  month,  were  Lord  Gambier,  a 
vice-admiral,  Henry  Goulburn,  Secretary  in  the 
colonial  department,  and  Dr.  William  Adams,  an 
admiralty  lawyer,  men  not  remarkable  for  ability 
or  standing,  but  apparently  somewhat  inclined  to 
be  overbearing  in  conduct.  Indeed,  the  advantage 
of  position  was  altogether  on  their  side. 

Since  the  time  when  President  Madison  seized 
upon  the  Russian  offer  of  mediation,  in  March, 
1813,  the  fortunes  of  war  had  been  vacillating. 
The  Americans  had  made  a  successful  expedition 
against  Fort  George,  and  the  British  had  been  re 
pulsed  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  But  the  first  great 
naval  disaster  then  happened  in  the  defeat  of  the 
Chesapeake  by  the  Shannon  off  Boston  Light. 
New  naval  successes,  especially  Perry's  splendid 
victory  on  Lake  Erie,  September  10,  1813,  re 
lieved  the  gloom.  General  Harrison  won  in  the 
fight  of  the  Thames,  in  which  Tecumseh  was  killed, 
on  October  5.  But  a  winter  expedition  led  by 
Hampton  and  Wilkinson  against  Montreal  failed  ; 
Fort  Niagara  was  lost,  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo 
were  burned,  and  great  quantities  of  provisions  and 


106  HENRY  CLAY. 

stores  destroyed.  These  disasters  were  scarcely 
counterbalanced  by  General  Jackson's  success 
against  the  Creeks  in  the  Southwest ;  but  this 
and  the  recovery  of  Detroit  were  the  only  consid 
erable  advantages  gained  on  land  in  1813.  The 
opening  spring  brought  another  failure  of  an  ex 
pedition  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Champlain  into 
Canada  under  Wilkinson.  The  blockade  was  con 
stantly  growing  more  rigid.  Not  a  single  Amer 
ican  man-of-war  was  on  the  open  sea.  The  suc 
cessful  fights  at  Chippewa  and  Lundy's  Lane, 
and  then  the  crowning  disgrace  of  the  capture  of 
Washington,  were  still  to  come.  Meanwhile  the 
discontent  with  the  war  prevailing  in  New  Eng 
land,  which  was  destined  to  culminate  in  the  Hart 
ford  Convention,  although  apparently  not  spread 
ing,  continued  to  be  active  and  to  threaten  rebellious 
outbreaks.  But  the  most  ominous  events  were  the 
downfall  of  Napoleon,  the  conclusion  of  peace  in 
Europe,  and,  in  consequence,  the  liberation  of  the 
military,  naval,  and  financial  resources  of  Great 
Britain  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  in 
America.  What  had  already  happened  was  only 
child's  play.  The  really  serious  business  was  now 
to  come.  The  outlook  appeared,  therefore,  ex 
tremely  gloomy.  While  on  his  way  to  Ghent,  Gal- 
latin  had  spent  some  time  in  London,  and  had  ear 
nestly  tried  there  to  interest,  in  behalf  of  the 
United  States,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  who  was  on 
a  visit  to  his  English  ally.  That  effort,  too,  had 
failed.  The  United  States  were  without  an  active 
friend. 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  107 

Most  of  these  things  had  become  known,  not 
only  to  the  Americans,  but  also  to  the  British  com 
missioners.  These  gentlemen  were,  therefore,  nat 
urally  inclined  to  treat  the  United  States  as  a  de 
feated  enemy  suing  for  peace.  At  the  opening  of 
the  negotiation  the  British  demanded  as  a  sine 
qua  non  that  a  large  territory  in  the  United  States, 
all  the  country  now  occupied  by  the  states  of 
Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  the  larger  part 
of  Indiana,  and  about  one  third  of  Ohio,  should  be 
set  apart  for  the  Indians,  to  constitute  a  sort  of  In 
dian  sovereignty  under  British  guaranty,  not  to  be 
purchased  from  the  Indians  by  the  United  States, 
and  to  serve  as  a  "  buffer,"  a  perpetual  protection 
of  the  British  possessions  against  American  ambi 
tion.  They  demanded  also  that  the  United  States 
should  relinquish  the  right  of  keeping  any  armed 
vessels  on  the  Great  Lakes  ;  and,  in  addition  to  all 
this,  they  asked  for  the  cession  of  a  piece  of  Maine 
in  order  to  make  a  road  from  Halifax  to  Quebec, 
and  for  a  formal  renewal  of  the  provision  of  the 
treaty  of  1783  giving  English  subjects  the  right  of 
navigating  the  Mississippi. 

This  meant  almost  a  surrender  of  American  in 
dependence.  It  was  the  extreme  of  humiliation. 
That  such  a  proposition  could  be  thought  of  was  a 
most  painful  shock  to  the  American  envoys.  All 
they  could  do  was  promptly  to  reject  the  sine  qua 
non,  and  then  think  of  going  home.  This  they 
did.  They  not  only  thought  of  going  home,  but 
they  openly  spoke  of  it.  The  British  commission- 


108  HENRY  CLAY. 

ers  received  the  impression,  and  reported  it  to  their 
government,  that  the  Americans  were  very  much 
in  earnest,  and  that  what  they  really  desired  was 
not  to  make  peace,  but  to  put  things  in  an  aspect 
calculated  to  unite  their  people  at  home  in  favor  of 
the  war.  Then  something  of  decisive  importance 
happened  behind  the  scenes,  which,  no  doubt,  the 
Americans  would  have  been  glad  to  know.  The 
leading  statesmen  in  England  were  not  at  all  anx 
ious  to  break  off  negotiations,  especially  not  upon 
points  a  final  rupture  on  which  might  have  "  made 
the  war  popular  in  America."  In  fact,  as  Lord 
Liverpool  wrote  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  they  were 
apprehensive  that  then  the  war  would  be  a  long 
affair ;  that  "  some  of  their  European  allies  would 
not  be  indisposed  to  favor  the  Americans,"  mean 
ing  especially  the  Emperor  of  Kussia,  and  that  this 
American  business  would  "  entail  upon  them  pro 
digious  expense."  They  did  not  desire  to  have  it 
said  that  "  the  property  tax  was  continued  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  a  better  frontier  for  Canada." 
Besides,  the  state  of  the  negotiations  at  the  Vienna 
Congress  was  "  unsatisfactory  ; "  the  situation  of 
the  interior  of  France  was  "  alarming  ;  "  the  Eng 
lish  people  were  tired  of  war  taxes.  Was  it  not 
more  prudent  after  all  to  let  the  Americans  off 
without  a  cession  of  territory  ?  The  Duke  of  Wel 
lington  was  consulted ;  he  emphatically  expressed 
himself  against  any  territorial  or  other  demand 
which  would  "  afford  the  Americans  a  proper  and 
creditable  ground  "  for  declining  to  make  peace, 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  109 

The  British  commissioners  were  instructed  accord 
ingly. 

Of  this  the  Americans  were,  of  course,  ignorant. 
Only  Clay  felt  it  intuitively.  According  to  Mr. 
Adams's  Diary,  Clay  had  "  an  inconceivable  idea 
that  they  will  recede  from  the  ground  they  have 
taken."  That  is  to  say,  he  had  the  instinct  of  the 
situation.  The  British  dropped  their  sine  qua 
non  ;  they  gave  up  a  proposition  which  they  made 
to  treat  on  the  basis  of  uti  possidetis,  each  nation 
to  hold  what  it  possessed  or  occupied  at  the  time 
of  signing  the  treaty  ;  they  finally  showed  them 
selves  willing  to  accept  the  American  proposition 
of  the  status  ante  helium  as  a  basis  for  the  final 
arrangement.  But  one  thing  they  would  not  do  : 
they  would  not  listen  to  anything  about  stipula 
tions  touching  principles  of  blockade,  rights  of 
neutrals,  impressment  and  right  of  search,  con 
cerning  which  the  Americans  insisted  upon  sub 
mitting  the  draft  of  an  article.  This  they  declined 
so  peremptorily  that  all  further  discussion  seemed 
useless.  What,  then,  became  of  "  Free  Trade  and 
Seamen's  Rights  ? "  What  of  the  original  in 
struction  that  the  commissioners  should  break  off 
forthwith  and  come  home  if  they  failed  in  obtain 
ing  a  concession  with  regard  to  impressment? 
President  Madison  had  in  the  mean  time  reconsid 
ered  the  matter  and  sent  further  instructions  au 
thorizing  them  to  treat  on  the  basis  of  the  status 
ante  bellum,  —  substantially,  to  restore  things  to 
the  state  in  which  the  war  had  found  them.  Not 


110  HENRY   CLAY. 

a  proud  thing  to  do,  but  better,  he  thought,  than  to 
go  on  with  such  a  war. 

When  the  British  accepted  this  basis,  and  the 
Americans  gave  up  their  contention  for  definite 
stipulations  concerning  the  principles  of  blockade 
and  the  impressment  question,  the  peace  was  vir 
tually  assured.  Only  matters  of  detail  had  to  be 
agreed  upon,  which,  if  both  parties  sincerely  de 
sired  peace,  would  not  be  difficult.  But  confused 
and  apparently  interminable  wrangles  sprang  up 
concerning  the  definition  of  the  status  ante  bcl- 

O 

lum,  mainly  with  regard  to  the  British  right  to 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  American 
right  to  fish  in  British  waters,  which  had  been 
coupled  together  in  the  first  treaty  of  peace,  in 
1783,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit 
ain.  The  British  commissioners  now  insisted  upon 
the  British  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  but 
proposed  to  put  an  end  to  the  American  right  to 
the  fisheries.  It  is  needless  to  recount  in  detail 
the  propositions  and  counter -propositions  which 
passed  between  the  two  parties  upon  this  point,  as 
well  as  the  furious  altercations  in  the  American 
commission  between  Clay  and  Adams,  taxing  to 
the  utmost  Gallatin's  resources  as  a  peacemaker ; 
Clay  insisting  that  a  renewal  of  the  right  of  the 
British  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  which  had  been 
conceded  in  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  again  in  Jay's 
treaty  of  1794,  when  Spain  held  the  whole  of  the 
right  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  with  part  of  the  left, 
and  the  British  dominions  were  erroneously  sup 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  Ill 

posed  to  touch  on  the  head-waters  of  the  great 
river,  would  be  giving  them  a  privilege  far  more 
important  than  we  should  secure  in  return,  as  the 
fisheries  were  "  a  matter  of  trifling  moment ; "  and 
Adams  maintaining  with  equal  heat  that  the  fish 
eries  were  a  thing  of  great  value,  while  the  privi 
lege  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  enjoyed  by  the 
British  under  the  treaty  of  1783  had  never  led  to 
any  trouble  or  inconvenience.  At  last,  after  these 
long  and  angry  discussions,  after  much  sending  of 
notes  and  replies,  in  which  the  American  envoys 
displayed  great  skill  in  argument,  and  after  re 
peated  references  of  the  disputed  points  by  the  Brit 
ish  commissioners  to  the  Foreign  Office  in  London 
and  long  waiting  for  answers,  the  British  govern 
ment  declared  that  it  was  willing  to  accept  a  treaty 
silent  on  both  subjects,  the  fisheries  as  well  as  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  This  declaration 
reached  the  American  commissioners  December  22, 
1814,  and  with  it  the  last  obstacle  to  a  final  agree 
ment  was  removed.  It  appeared  that  the  British 
government  had  become  fully  as  anxious  for  peace 
as  the  American.  Clay  adhered  to  his  first  im 
pressions  in  this  respect  throughout  the  negotia 
tion  ;  for  ten  days  before,  on  December  12,  when 
other  members  of  the  commission  still  suspected 
the  British  of  seeking  an  occasion  for  breaking  off, 
Adams  wrote  in  his  Diary :  "  Mr.  Clay  was  so  con 
fident  that  the  British  government  had  resolved 
upon  peace,  that  he  said  he  would  give  himself  as 
a  hostage  and  a  victim  to  be  sacrificed  if  they 


112  HENRY  CLAY. 

broke  off  on  these  points."  There  is  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  he  would  not  have  been  sorry  if  they  had 
broken  off. 

The  treaty  was  signed  on  December  24,  1814. 
It  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  American  com 
missioners  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief,  all,  at  least,  ex 
cept  Clay.  For  five  weary  months  they  had  been 
fighting  from  point  to  point  a  foe  who  seemed  to 
have  all  the  advantages  of  strength  and  position, 
and  all  the  while  they  had  been  in  constant  appre 
hension  that  any  hour  might  bring  more  evil  news 
to  destroy  the  fruit  of  their  anxious  labors.  With 
dignity  but  not  without  impatience  they  had  borne 
the  gruffness  with  which  the  English  commission 
ers  had  frequently  thought  proper  to  emphasize  the 
superiority  of  the  power  behind  them.  Like  brave 
men  they  had  gone  through  the  dinners  with  their 
British  colleagues,  the  ghastly  humor  of  which  dur 
ing  the  first  period  of  the  negotiation  consisted  in 
cheerful  conversations  about  the  impossibility  of 
agreeing,  the  short  and  fruitless  visit  of  the  Amer 
ican  commissioners  to  Europe,  their  speedy  return 
home,  and  so  on.  Then  finally  the  altercations 
among  themselves,  which  grew  warmer  as  the  ne 
gotiation  proceeded,  had  made  it  appear  doubtful 
more  than  once  whether  they  would  be  able  to  pre 
sent  a  united  front  upon  all  the  important  points. 
In  these  altercations  Clay  had  appeared  especially 
fretful,  constantly  dissatisfied,  and  ungovernable. 
Adams's  Diary  teems  with  significant  remarks  about 
Clay  "  waxing  loud  and  warm;  "  about  his  "great 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  113 

heat  and  anger  ;  "  how  "  Mr.  Clay  lost  his  temper, 
as  he  generally  does  whenever  the  right  of  the  Brit 
ish  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  is  discussed ;  "  how 
"  Mr.  Clay,  who  was  determined  to  foresee  no  pub 
lic  misfortune  in  our  affairs,  bears  them  with  less 
temper,  now  they  have  come,  than  any  of  us ;  he 
rails  at  commerce  and  the  people  of  Massachusetts, 
and  tells  us  what  wonders  the  people  of  Kentucky 
would  do  if  they  should  be  attacked  ;  "  how  "  Mr. 
Clay  is  growing  peevish  and  fractious,"  —  and,  rec 
ollecting  himself,  Adams  contritely  adds  :  "  I  too 
must  not  forget  to  keep  guard  on  my  temper." 
At  the  very  last,  just  before  separating,  Adams  and 
Clay  quarreled  about  the  custody  of  the  papers, 
in  language  bordering  upon  the  unparliamentary. 
But  for  the  consummate  tact  and  the  authority  of 
Gallatin  the  commission  would  not  seldom  have 
been  in  danger  of  breaking  up  in  heated  contro 
versy. 

The  complaints  about  Clay's  ill-tempered  moods 
were  undoubtedly  well  founded.  Always  some 
what  inclined  to  be  dictatorial  and  impatient  of 
opposition,  he  had  on  this  occasion  especial  reason 
for  being  ill  at  ease.  He,  more  than  any  one  else, 
had  made  the  war.  He  had  advised  the  invasion 
of  Canada,  and  predicted  an  easy  conquest.  He 
had  confidently  spoken  of  dictating  a  peace  at 
Quebec  or  Halifax.  He  had,  after  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Orders  in  Council,  insisted  that  the  matter 
of  impressment  alone  was  sufficient  reason  for  war. 
He  had  pledged  the  honor  of  the  country  for  the 


114  HENRY  CLAY. 

maintenance  of  the  cause  of  "  Free  Trade  and 
Seamen's  Rights."  Now  to  make  a  peace  which 
was  not  only  not  dictated  at  Quebec  or  Halifax, 
but  looked  rather  like  a  generous  concession  on  the 
part  of  a  victorious  enemy  ;  to  make  peace  while 
disgraceful  defeats  of  the  American  arms,  among 
them  the  capture  of  the  seat  of  government  and  the 
burning  of  the  Capitol,  were  still  unavenged,  and 
while,  after  some  brilliant  exploits,  the  American 
navy  was  virtually  shut  up  in  American  harbors 
by  British  blockading  squadrons  ;  a  peace  based 
upon  the  status  ante  bellum,  without  even  an  allu 
sion  to  the  things  that  had  been  fought  for,  —  in 
one  word,  a  peace,  which,  whatever  its  merits  and 
advantages,  was  certainly  not  a  glorious  peace,  — 
this  could  not  but  be  an  almost  unendurable 
thought  to  the  man  who,  above  all  things,  wanted 
to  be  proud  of  his  country. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that,  during  these 
five  weary  months  of  negotiation,  Clay  should  have 
been  constantly  tormented  by  the  perhaps  half-un 
conscious  desire  to  secure  to  his  country  another 
chance  to  retrieve  its  fortunes  and  restore  its 
glory  on  the  field  of  war,  and,  to  that  end,  to 
break  off  negotiations  on  some  point  that  would 
rouse  and  rally  the  American  people.  Thus  we 
find  that,  according  to  Adams,  on  October  31, 
when  complaint  was  made  of  the  delays  of  the 
British  government  in  furnishing  passports  for 
vessels  to  carry  the  despatches  of  the  American 
commissioners,  "  Mr.  Clay  was  for  making  a  strong 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  115 

remonstrance  on  the  subject,  and  for  breaking  off 
the  negotiation  upon  that  point,  if  they  did  not  give 
us  satisfaction."  A  passport  arrived  the  same 
day,  rendering  the  remonstrance  unnecessary. 
When  the  negotiation  had  gone  on  for  three 
months  and  it  was  perfectly  well  understood  that 
the  British  would  not  listen  at  all  to  any  proposi 
tion  concerning  impressment,  Clay,  who  alone  had 
pressed  this  subject,  was  again  "  so  urgent  to  pre 
sent  an  article  "  on  impressment  that  Mr.  Adams 
"  acquiesced  in  his  wishes ; "  the  article  was  pre 
sented  and  rejected  by  the  British  at  once.  Less 
than  two  weeks  before  the  final  agreement,  discuss 
ing  the  question  of  the  fisheries  and  the  naviga 
tion  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  commission,  Clay 
broke  out,  saying,  "  he  was  for  a  war  three  years 
longer ;  he  had  no  doubt  three  years  more  of  war 
would  make  us  a  warlike  people,  and  that  then  we 
should  come  out  of  the  war  with  honor,  —  whereas 
at  present,  even  upon  the  best  terms  we  could  pos 
sibly  obtain,  we  shall  have  only  a  half -formed 
army,  and  half  retrieve  our  military  reputation." 
His  agony  grew  as  an  agreement  was  approached, 
and  culminated  two  days  before  the  treaty  was 
signed,  when  the  British  note  on  the  fisheries  and 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  had  been  received, 
which  seemed  to  make  the  conclusion  of  the  peace 
certain.  "  Mr.  Clay  came  to  my  chamber  "  (writes 
Mr.  Adams),  "and  on  reading  the  British  note 
manifested  some  chagrin.  He  still  talked  of  break 
ing  off  the  negotiation,  but  he  did  not  exactly  dis- 


116  HENRY   CLAY. 

close  the  motive  of  his  ill-humor,  which  was,  how 
ever  easily  seen  through.  In  the  evening  we  met, 
and  Mr.  Clay  continued  in  his  discontented  humor. 
He  was  for  taking  time  to  deliberate  upon  the 
British  note.  He  was  for  meeting  about  it  to-mor 
row  morning.  He  was  sounding  all  round  for  sup 
port  in  making  another  stand  of  resistance  at  this 
stage  of  the  business.  At  last  he  turned  to  me 
and  asked  me  whether  I  would  not  join  him  now 
and  break  off  the  negotiation.  I  told  him,  No, 
there  was  nothing  now  to  break  off  on." 

Only  then  he  gave  it  up,  and  with  a  heavy  heart 
he  consented  to  sign  the  treaty  of  peace.  The 
treaty  provided  that  hostilities  should  cease  imme 
diately  iipon  its  ratification.  It  further  stipulated 
for  a  mutual  restoration  of  territory  (except  some 
small  disputed  islands),  of  property,  archives,  etc. ; 
a  mutual  restoration  of  prisoners  of  war ;  a  com 
mission  to  settle  boundary  questions,  those  ques 
tions,  if  the  commission  should  disagree,  to  be  sub 
mitted  to  some  friendly  government  for  arbitration  ; 
cessation  of  Indian  hostilities,  each  party  to  restore 
the  Indians  with  whom  they  were  still  at  war  to 
all  possessions  and  rights  they  enjoyed  in  1811  ; 
compensation  for  slaves  abducted  by  British  forces  ; 
a  promise  by  both  governments  to  promote  the  en 
tire  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  ;  but  not  a  word  to 
indicate  what  the  British  and  the  Americans  had 
been  fighting  about. 

Thus  ended  the  war  of  1812,  on  paper ;  in  real 
ity,  it  went  on  until  the  news  of  the  peace  arrived 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  117 

in  America.  It  stands  as  one  of  the  most  singular 
wars  in  history.  It  was  begun  on  account  of  out 
rages  committed  upon  the  maritime  commerce  of 
the  United  States ;  but  those  parts  of  the  country 
which  had  least  to  do  with  that  maritime  com 
merce,  the  South  and  West,  were  most  in  favor  of 
the  war,  while  those  whose  fortunes  were  on  the  sea 
most  earnestly  opposed  it.  Considering  that  the 
conduct  of  Napoleon  toward  the  United  States  had 
been  in  some  respects  more  outrageous,  certainly 
more  perfidious  and  insulting,  than  the  conduct  of 
Great  Britain,  it  might  be  questioned  whether  the 
war  was  not  waged  against  the  wrong  party.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  the  Orders  in  Council  furnished 
the  principal  cause  of  the  war.  That  principal 
cause  happened  to  disappear  at  the  same  time  that 
the  war  was  declared.  Hostilities  were  continued 
on  a  secondary  issue.  But  when  peace  was  made, 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  was  by  so  much  as  a 
single  word  alluded  to  in  the  treaty.  To  cap  the 
climax,  the  principal  battle  of  the  war,  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  was  fought  after  the  peace  had 
been  signed,  but  before  it  had  become  known  in 
America.  It  is  questionable  whether  such  a  peace 
would  have  been  signed  at  all,  had  that  battle  hap 
pened  at  an  earlier  period.  While  the  peace,  as  to 
the  United  States,  was  not  one  which  a  victorious 
power  would  make,  the  closing  triumph  in  Amer-  [ 
ica  had  given  to  the  American  arms  a  prestige  ( 
they  had  never  possessed  before. 

Neither  was  the  reception  the  treaty  met  with 


118  HENRY  CLAY. 

in  accord  with  the  fears  of  the  American,  or  the 
hopes  of  the  British  commissioners.  While  the 
leading  statesmen  of  England  congratulated  one 
another,  as  Lord  Castlereagh,  writing  from  Vienna, 
expressed  it  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Liverpool,  upon 
beinsr  "  released  from  the  millstone  of  an  Ameri- 

O 

can  war,"  the  war  party  in  England,  who  wanted 
to  "  punish  "  the  impudence  of  the  United  States, 
were  deeply  mortified.  They  would  not  admit 
that  the  peace  on  the  British  side  was  an  "  honor 
able  "  one,  since  England  had  failed  to  "  force  her 
principles  on  America,"  and  had  retired  from  the 
contest  with  some  defeats  unavenged.  In  the 
United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  where  some  of 
the  American  envoys,  especially  Clay,  had  feared 
their  work  would  find  very  little  favor,  the  news  of 
peace  was  received  with  transports  of  joy.  To  the 
American  people  it  came  after  the  victory  of  New 
Orleans ;  and  their  national  pride,  relieved  of  the 
terrible  anxieties  of  the  last  two  years,  and  elated 
at  the  great  closing  triumph  on  the  field  of  battle, 
which  seemed  to  wipe  out  all  the  shame  of  previous 
defeats,  was  content  not  to  look  too  closely  at  the 
articles  of  the  treaty.  Indeed,  the  American  com 
missioners  received,  for  what  they  had  done,  the 
praise  of  all  their  fellow-citizens  who  were  unbi 
ased  by  party  feeling,  —  praise,  which,  taking  into 
account  the  perplexities  of  their  situation,  they 
well  deserved.  With  no  decisive  victories  on  their 
side  to  boast  of,  with  no  well-organized  armies  to 
support  their  pretensions,  with  no  national  ships 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  119 

on  the  high  seas,  with  the  capture  of  Washington, 
the  burning  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  hurried  flight 
of  the  President  still  a  favorite  theme  of  jest  at 
the  dinner-tables  and  in  the  clubs  all  over  Eu 
rope,  they  had  to  confront  the  representatives  of 
the  haughtiest,  and,  in  some  respects,  the  strong 
est  power  on  earth.  If  it  was  true  that  they  had 
not  succeeded  in  forcing  the  British  formally  to 
renounce  the  right  of  impressment  and  to  accept 
just  principles  of  blockade  and  of  neutral  rights,  it 
was  also  true  that  the  British  had  begun  the  ne 
gotiation  with  extravagant,  humiliating,  peremp 
tory  demands,  presenting  them  in  the  most  over 
bearing  manner  as  sine  qua  non  ;  that  they  had 
found  themselves  obliged  to  drop  these  one  after 
another  ;  that  in  the  discussion  about  the  fisheries 
and  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  they  had 
been  dislodged  from  position  after  position,  until 
finally  they  accepted  a  treaty  which  stood  in 
strange  contrast  to  their  original  attitude.  The 
American  commissioners  had  the  satisfaction  of 
hearing  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley  declare  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  that  "in  his  opinion  they  had  1 
shown  a  most  astonishing  superiority  over  the  / 
British  during  the  whole  of  the  correspondence." 

However  reluctantly  Clay  had  signed  the  peace, 
his  proud  patriotic  heart  became  reconciled  to  it  as 
the  general  effects  of  all  that  had  been  done  dis 
closed  themselves.  These  effects  were  indeed  very 
great,  and  he  had  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  them. 
The  question  has  been  much  discussed,  whether 


120  HENRY  CLAY. 

there  was  any  statesmanship,  any  good  sense,  in 
making  the  war  of   1812  at  all.     It  is  true  that 
it  was  resolved  upon  without  preparation,  and  that 
it  was  wretchedly  managed.    But  if  war  is  ever  jus 
tified,  there  was  ample  provocation  for  it.     The  le 
gitimate  interests  of  the  United   States  had  been 
trampled  upon  by  the  belligerent  powers,  as  if  en 
titled  to  no  respect.     The  American  flag  had  been 
treated  with  a  contempt  scarcely  conceivable  now. 
The  question  was   whether  the  American   people 
should  permit  themselves  not  only  to  be  robbed, 
and  maltreated,  and  insulted,  but  also  to  be  de 
spised,  —  all  this  for  the  privilege  of  picking  up  the 
poor  crumbs  of  trade  which  the  great  powers  of 
Europe  would  still  let  them  have.     When  a  nation 
knowingly  and  willingly  accepts  the  contempt  of 
others,  it  is  in  danger  of  losing  also  its  respect  for 
itself.     Against  this  the  national  pride  of  Young 
America  rose  in  revolt.     When  insulted  too  griev 
ously,  it  felt  an  irresistible  impulse  to  strike.     It 
struck  wildly,  to  be  sure,  and  received  ugly  blows  in 
return.     But  it  proved,  after  all,  that  this  young 
democracy  could  not  be  trampled  upon  with  im 
punity,  that  it  felt  an  insult  as  keenly  as  older  na 
tions,  and  that  it  was  capable  of  risking  a  fight 
with  the  most  formidable  power  on  earth  in  resent 
ing  it.     It  proved,  too,  that  this  most  formidable 
power  might  find  in  the  young  democracy  a  very 
uncomfortable  antagonist. 

If    the  warlike  impulse    in  this  case  was  mere 
sentiment,  as  has  been  said,  it  was  a  statesmanlike 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  121 

sentiment.  For  the  war  of  1812,  with  all  the 
losses  in  blood  and  treasure  entailed  by  it,  and  in 
spite  of  the  peace  which  ignored  the  declared 
causes  of  the  war,  transformed  the  American  Re 
public  in  the  estimation  of  the  world  from  a  feeble 
experimental  curiosity  into  a  power,  —  a  real  power, 
full  of  brains,  and  with  visible  claws  and  teeth. 
It  made  the  American  people,  who  had  so  far  con 
sisted  of  the  peoples  of  so  many  little  common 
wealths,  not  seldom  wondering  whether  they  could 
profitably  stay  long  together,  a  consciously  united 
nation,  with  a  common  country,  a  great  country, 
worth  fighting  for ;  and  a  common  national  des 
tiny,  nobody  could  say  how  great ;  and  a  common 
national  pride,  at  that  time  filling  every  American 
heart  brimful.  The  war  had  encountered  the  first 
practical  disunion  movement,  and  killed  it  by  ex 
posing  it  to  the  execration  of  the  true  American 
feeling ;  killed  it  so  dead,  at  least  on  its  field  of 
action,  in  New  England,  that  a  similar  aspiration 
has  never  arisen  there  again.  The  war  put  an  end 
to  the  last  remnant  of  colonial  feeling  ;  for  from 
that  time  forward  there  was  no  longer  any  French 
party  or  any  English  party  in  the  United  States ; 
it  was  thenceforth  all  American  as  against  the 
world.  A  war  that  had  such  results  was  not 
fought  in  vain. 

Clay  might,  therefore,  well  say,  as  he  did  say  a 
year  later  in  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  :  — 

"  I  gave  a  vote  for  the  declaration  of  war.    I  exerted 


122  HENRY  CLAY. 

all  the  little  influence  and  talent  I  could  command  to 
make  the  war.  The  war  was  made.  It  is  terminated. 
And  I  declare,  with  perfect  sincerity,  if  it  had  been  per 
mitted  to  me  to  lift  the  veil  of  futurity,  and  to  foresee 
the  precise  series  of  events  which  has  occurred,  my  vote 
would  have  been  unchanged.  We  had  been  insulted, 
and  outraged,  and  spoliated  upon  by  almost  all  Europe, 
—  by  Great  Britain,  by  France,  Spain,  Denmark,  Na 
ples,  and,  to  cap  the  climax,  by  the  little  contemptible 
power  of  Algiers.  We  had  submitted  too  long  and  too 
much.  We  had  become  the  scorn  of  foreign  powers, 
and  the  derision  of  our  own  citizens.  What  have  we 
gained  by  the  war  ?  Let  any  man  look  at  the  degraded 
condition  of  this  country  before  the  war,  the  scorn  of 
the  universe,  the  contempt  of  ourselves  ;  and  tell  me  if 
we  have  gained  nothing  by  the  war  ?  What  is  our  sit 
uation  now  ?  Respectability  and  character  abroad,  se 
curity  and  confidence  at  home." 

All  this  was  true  ;  but  he  was  very  far  from  fore 
seeing  such  happy  results  at  the  time  when  he  put 
his  name  to  the  treaty  of  peace.  To  him  it  seemed 
then  a  "damned  bad  treaty,"  and  his  mind  was 
restless  with  dark  forebodings  as  to  its  effect  upon 
the  character  of  his  country  and  his  own  standing 
as  a  public  man. 

But  the  sojourn  in  Ghent  was  after  all  by  no 
means  all  gloom  to  his  buoyant  nature.  He  had 
found  things  to  enjoy.  The  American  commis 
sioners  were  most  hospitably  received  by  the  au 
thorities  and  the  polite  burghers  of  Ghent.  Public 
and  private  entertainments  in  their  honor  crowded 
one  another,  and  they  enjoyed  them.  Even  Mr. 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  123 

Adams  enjoyed  them,  he,  however,  not  without 
characteristic  remorse,  for  thus  he  castigates  him 
self  in  his  Diary :  "  There  are  several  particulars 
in  my  present  mode  of  life  in  which  there  is  too 
much  relaxation  of  self  -  discipline.  I  have  this 
month  frequented  too  much  the  theatre  and  other 
public  amusements ;  indulged  too  much  convivial 
ity,  and  taken  too  little  exercise.  The  consequence 
is  that  I  am  growing  corpulent,  and  that  industry 
becomes  irksome  to  me.  May  I  be  cautious  not 
to  fall  into  any  habit  of  indolence  or  dissipation !  " 
Clay's  temperament,  no  doubt,  enabled  him  to  bear 
such  pleasures  with  more  fortitude  and  less  appre 
hension  of  dire  consequences.  There  was  no  twinge 
of  self-reproach  in  his  mind,  and  later  in  life  he 
often  spoke  of  the  days  of  Ghent  with  great  satis 
faction.  He  would  certainly  have  enjoyed  them 
still  more,  had  he  at  the  time  looked  farther  into 
the  future. 

The  diplomatic  business  at  Ghent  completed, 
Clay,  in  conjunction  with  Adams  and  Gallatin, 
was  instructed  to  go  to  London  for  the  purpose  of 
negotiating  a  treaty  of  commerce.  He  did  not, 
however,  make  haste  to  present  himself  in  Eng 
land,  for  there  was  still  a  feeling  weighing  upon 
his  mind,  as  if,  after  the  many  defeats  in  America 
and  the  to  him  unsatisfactory  peace,  he  would  not 
like  to  be  in  the  land  of  a  triumphant  enemy.  So 
he  lingered  in  Paris.  But  as  soon  as  he  heard  of 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  he  was  ready  to  start. 
"  Now,"  said  he  to  the  bearer  of  the  news,  "  now 


124  HENRY  CLAY. 

I  can  go  to  England  without  mortification."  While 
in  Paris  he  was  introduced  to  the  polite  society  of 
the  French  capital.  A  clever  saying  is  reported 
of  him  in  a  conversation  with  Madame  de  Stael : 
"  I  have  been  in  England,"  said  she,  "  and  have 
been  battling  for  your  cause  there.  They  were  so 
much  enraged  against  you  that  at  one  time  they 
thought  seriously  of  sending  the  Duke  of  Welling 
ton  to  lead  their  armies  against  you."  "  I  am  very 
sorry,"  replied  Mr.  Clay,  "  that  they  did  not  send 
the  duke."  "And  why?"  "  Because  if  he  had 
beaten  us,  we  should  but  have  been  in  the  condi 
tion  of  Europe,  without  disgrace.  But  if  we  had 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  defeat  him,  we  should  have 
greatly  added  to  the  renown  of  our  arms." 

He  arrived  in  London  in  March  and  went  to 
work  with  Gallatin  to  open  the  negotiation  in 
trusted  to  them.  Mr.  Adams  did  not  follow  them 
until  May.  They  met  again,  as  British  commis 
sioners,  Goulburn  and  Dr.  Adams.  Mr.  Robinson, 
afterwards  Lord  Goderich  and  Earl  Ripon,  then 
Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  were  substi 
tuted  for  Lord  Gambler.  The  negotiation  lasted 
three  months  ;  it  was  friendly  in  character,  but  re 
sulted  in  very  little.  The  British  government  de 
clined  to  open  the  questions  of  impressment,  block 
ade,  trade  with  enemies'  colonies  in  time  of  war, 
West  Indian  and  Canadian  trade  ;  nothing  of  value 
was  obtained  save  some  advantages  in  the  com 
merce  with  the  East  Indies,  and  a  provision  abol 
ishing  discriminating  duties. 


GHENT  AND  LONDON.  125 

Clay  arrived  in  the  United  States  again  in  Sep 
tember,  1815,  and  was  duly  received  and  feasted 
by  his  friends  and  admirers.  The  people  of  the 
Lexington  district  in  Kentucky  had  in  the  mean 
time  reflected  him  to  the  national  House  of  Kep- 
reseiitatives. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IN  THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 

BEFORE  Clay  left  Lexington  to  take  his  seat  in 
Congress,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Secretary 
of  State,  James  Monroe,  offering  him  the  mission 
to  Russia.  He  declined  it.  He  was  evidently  re 
solved  to  remain  in  Congress  while  Madison  was 
President,  for  when,  less  than  a  year  later,  in 
August,  1816,  Madison  invited  him  to  a  place  in 
his  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  his  answer  was 
still  a  refusal. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  December  4, 
1815,  Clay  was  again  elected  Speaker.  In  both 
Houses  the  Republicans  had  strong  majorities;  in 
the  Senate  twenty-two  against  fourteen  Federal 
ists,  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  one  hun 
dred  and  seventeen  against  sixty -five.  But  the 
Federalists,  as  a  party  contending  for  power,  were 
weaker  even  than  these  numbers  indicated.  There 
is  no  heavier  burden  for  a  political  party  to  bear, 
than  to  have  appeared  unpatriotic  in  time  of  war. 
The  Federal  party  went  down  under  this  load  at  a 
period  when  its  principles  were,  one  after  another, 
unconsciously  adopted  by  its  victorious  opponents. 

The  Republicanism  left  behind  by  the  war  of 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      127 

1812  was  no  longer  the  Republicanism  of  frugal 
economy,  simple,  unpretentious,  narrowly  circum 
scribed  government,  and  peace  and  friendship  with 
all  the  world,  which  the  famous  triumvirate,  Jef 
ferson,  Madison,  and  Gallatin,  had  set  out  with  in 
1801^  and  which  was  the  political  ideal  of  bucolic 
democracy.  The  rough  jostle  with  the  strong  pow 
ers  of  the  external  world  had  made  sad  havoc  of 
the  idyl.  Instead  of  the  least  possible  government 
there  had  been,  even  before  the  war,  while  Jeffer 
son  himself  was  President,  during  that  painful 
struggle  under  the  oppressive  practices  of  the  Eu 
ropean  belligerents,  enormous  stretches  of  power, 
such  as  the  laws  enforcing  the  embargo,  which 
equaled,  if  not  outstripped,  anything  the  Federalists 
had  ever  done.  Instead  of  frugal  economy  and  reg 
ular  debt  paying,  there  had  been  enormous  war  ex 
penses  with  new  taxes  and  heavy  loans.  Instead  of 
unbroken  peace  and  general  friendship,  there  had 
been  a  long  and  bloody  war  with  the  nearest  of  kin. 
Now,  with  that  war  finished,  there  was  a  large  pub 
lic  debt,  a  frightfully  disordered  currency,  a  heavy 
budget  of  yearly  expenditures,  and  a  people  awak 
ened  to  new  wants  and  new  ambitions,  for  the  sat 
isfaction  of  which  they  looked,  more  than  ever 
before,  to  the  government.  The  old  triumvirate 
of  leaders  were  indeed  still  alive  ;  but  Jefferson 
was  sitting  in  his  lofty  Monticello,  the  sage  of  the 
period,  giving  forth  oracular  sounds,  many  of  them 
very  wise,  always  respectfully  received,  but  apt  to 
be  minded  only  when  what  he  said  corresponded 


128  HENRY   CLAY. 

with  the  wishes  of  his  listeners  ;  Gallatin,  having 
witnessed  and  sagaciously  recognized  the  break 
down  of  his  favorite  theory  of  government,  was 
serving  the  Republic  as  a  diplomatic  representa 
tive  abroad ;  Madison  was  still  President,  but,  hav 
ing  never  been  a  strong  leader  of  men  for  his  own 
purposes,  he  could  offer  but  feeble  resistance  to 
the  new  tendencies.  A  new  school  of  Republican 
leaders  had  pressed  forward  into  the  places  of  these 
retired  veterans,  —  new  leaders,  who  would  speak 
with  pity  of  a  government  "  going  on  in  the  old 
imbecile  method,  contributing  nothing  by  its  meas 
ures  to  the  honor  and  reputation  of  the  country  ;  " 
who  wanted  a  conduct  of  public  affairs  "on  an  en 
larged  policy  ;  "  who  thought  that  revenues  might 
be  raised,  not  only  to  provide  for  the  absolute 
wants  of  the  government,  but,  beyond  that,  for  the 
advancement  of  the  public  benefit. 

Of  this  new  Republican  school  Clay  and  Calhoun 
were  the  foremost  champions.  Clay  boldly  put 
forth  its  programme  in  a  speech  made  in  commit 
tee  of  the  whole  on  January  29,  1816,  on  a  bill  re 
ported  by  Lowndes,  to  reduce  the  direct  taxes  im 
posed  during  the  war.  After  having  defended, 
with  great  force,  the  war  of  1812  as  a  just  and 
necessary  war,  and  the  peace  of  Ghent  as  an  hon 
orable  peace,  he  enumerated  the  reasons  why  he 
deemed  no  great  reduction  of  taxes  advisable.  Our 
relations  with  Spain,  he  said,  were  unsatisfactory ; 
there  would  be  more  wars  with  Great  Britain  ;  and 
the  United  States  might  have  to  aid  the  Spanish 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      129 

South  American  colonies  in  their  struggle  for  in 
dependence.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  main 
tain  a  respectable  military  establishment,  to  aug 
ment  the  navy,  and  to  provide  for  coast  defenses, 
Furthermore  he  would,  "  as  earnestly,  commence 
the  great  work,  too  long  delayed,  of  internal  im 
provement.  He  desired  to  see  a  chain  of  turnpike 
roads  and  canals  from  Passamaquoddy  Bay  to  New 
Orleans,  and  other  similar  roads  intersecting  the 
mountains,  to  facilitate  intercourse  between  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  to  bind  and  connect  us 
together."  He  would  also  "  effectually  protect  our 
manufactories,  —  not  so  much  for  the  manufacto 
ries  themselves,  as  for  the  general  interest.  We 
should  thus  have  our  wants  supplied,  when  foreign 
resources  are  cut  off ;  and  we  should  also  lay  the 
basis  of  a  system  of  taxation  to  be  resorted  to  when 
the  revenue  from  imports  is  stopped  by  war." 
Provision  for  the  contingency  of  war  was  a  prom 
inent  consideration  in  all  this ;  Clay's  political 
ideas  had  not  yet  come  down  to  the  peace  footing. 
Calhoun  followed  him  with  a  vigorous  speech  of 
similar  tenor.  These  arguments  prevailed,  and  the 
direct  tax  was  in  part  retained. 

Then  the  tariff  was  taken  in  hand.  The  em 
bargo,  the  non  -  intercourse,  and  the  war,  while 
dealing  the  shipping  interest  a  terrible  blow,  had, 
by  excluding  foreign  products,  served  as  a  pow 
erful  stimulus  to  manufacturing  industry.  But 
after  the  war  the  country  was  flooded  by  a  tremen 
dous  importation  of  English  goods.  American 


130  HENRY  CLAY. 

industry,  artificially  developed  by  an  abnormal 
state  of  things,  was  now  to  be  artificially  sustained 
against  that  competition.  Tariff  duties  were  re 
sorted  to  for  that  avowed  purpose,  and  a  scheme 
was  proposed  by  Dallas,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  He  arranged  the  articles  subject  to 
duty  in  three  classes  :  1.  Those  of  which  the  home 
supply  was  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  demand  ;  they 
were  to  bear  the  highest  duty,  thirty-five  per  cent, 
ad  valorem.  2.  Those  of  which  the  domestic  supply 
was  only  partially  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  demand, 
comprising  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  as  well  as 
iron  and  most  of  its  coarser  products,  distilled 
spirits,  etc.  ;  these  were  to  bear  twenty  per  cent. 
And  3,  those  of  which  the  home  production  was 
small,  or  nothing ;  these  were  to  bear  a  simple 
revenue  tax. 

Most  of  the  Federalists  opposed  this  protective 
policy,  while  the  Eepublican  protectionists,  illus 
trating  the  remarkable  mutation  of  things,  quoted 
against  them  Hamilton's  famous  report  on  manu 
factures.  Webster  and  most  of  the  New  England 
men  opposed  it,  because  it  would  injure  the  ship 
ping  interest.  John  Randolph,  independent  of 
party,  opposed  it,  because  it  would  benefit  the 
Northern  States  at  the  expense  of  the  South.  Cal- 
houn,  Lowndes,  and  their  Southern  followers  sup 
ported  it,  not  only  as  a  means  of  national  defense, 
but  also  in  order  to  help  the  cotton  interest,  since 
England  at  that  time  levied  a  discriminating  duty 
on  raw  materials  to  the  disadvantage  of  cotton 


IN   THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      131 

raised  in  America,  and  since  the  coarser  cotton 
fabrics  imported  into  the  United  States  were 
mostly  made  of  India  cotton.  The  principal  argu 
ment  urged  by  Clay  and  generally  accepted  by  the 
Republicans  was,  that  certain  manufacturing  indus 
tries  must  be  built  up  and  sustained  for  the  safety 
of  the  country  in  time  of  war.  Thus  the  tariff  of 
1816  was  enacted,  embodying  substantially  the 
scheme  proposed  by  Dallas. 

So  far  Clay  had,  as  to  definite  measures  of  pub 
lic  concern,  preserved  a  plausible  consistency  with 
the  principles  and  measures  advocated  by  him  be 
fore  the  war  of  1812.  But  he  should  not  be  spared 
the  ordeal  brought  on  by  direct  self-contradiction. 
The  war  had  thrown  the  currency  into  great  dis 
order.  Upon  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  the  renewal  of  which  Clay 
had  helped  to  defeat,  the  notes  of  that  institution 
were  withdrawn,  and  the  notes  of  state  banks  took 
their  place.  These  banks  multiplied  very  rapidly. 
In  the  years  1811,  1812,  and  1813  one  hundred 
and  twenty  of  them  went  into  operation,  many  with 
insufficient  capital.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  endeavored  in  vain  to  bring  the  banks  into 
prudent  cooperation.  They  began  to  refuse  one 
another's  bills.  In  1814  specie  payments  were 
suspended.  Reckless  paper  issues  produced  a  cor 
responding  inflation  of  prices.  Under  such  circum 
stances  Dallas  finally  saw  no  other  way  to  restore 
order  in  the  currency  than  by  the  promptest  pos 
sible  return  to  specie  payments,  and  to  this  end 


132  HENRY  CLAY. 

he  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  specie-paying 
national  bank,  virtually  a  revival  of  the  old  Bank 
of  the  United  States. 

The  Republican  majority  of  1816  was  ready  to 
return  to  Hamilton's  plan  of  a  financial  agency, 
which  the  Republicans  of  1811  had  denounced  and 
rejected  ;  and  they  were  ready,  too,  to  enlarge  that 
plan  in  all  the  features  formerly  objected  to.  But 
how  could  Clay  support  such  a  scheme  ?  We  shall 
see. 

On  January  8,  1816,  Calhoun  reported  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  bill  providing  that  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States  should  be  chartered  for 
twenty  years,  with  a  capital  of  $35,000,000,  divided 
into  350,000  shares,  Congress  to  have  the  power  to 
authorize  an  increase  of  the  capital  to  $50,000,000  ; 
70,000  shares,  amounting  to  17,000,000,  to  be  sub 
scribed  and  paid  for  by  the  United  States,  and 
280,000  shares  to  be  taken  by  individuals,  compa 
nies,  or  corporations  ;  the  government  to  appoint 
five  of  the  twenty-five  directors  ;  the  bank  to  be 
authorized  to  establish  branches,  to  have  the  de 
posits  of  the  public  money,  subject  to'  the  discre 
tion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  pay 
to  the  government  $1,500,000  in  three  instalments, 
as  a  bonus  for  its  charter.  This  was  substantially 
Hamilton's  National  Bank  of  1791,  only  on  a 
larger  scale.  It  was  exactly  the  thing  which,  five 
years  before,  Clay  had  found  so  utterly  unconsti 
tutional,  and  in  its  very  nature  so  dangerous,  that 
he  could  under  no  circumstances  consent  to  a  pro» 
longation  of  its  existence. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   133 

Again  the  two  parties  found  themselves  reversed 
in  position  :  the  Federalists  were  now  opposing  the 
bank,  —  some  of  them,  like  Webster,  because  the 
capital  was  too  large ;  while  the  Republicans,  with 
some  exceptions,  were  favoring  it  as  a  necessity. 
But  how  did  Clay  perform  his  somersault  ?  He 
made  a  speech  which  his  contemporary  friends 
praised  as  very  able.  It  was  not  reported,  but  he 
reproduced  its  main  propositions  in  an  address  sub 
sequently  delivered  before  his  constituents  for  the 
purpose  of  defending  himself  against  that  charge 
which  has  such  terrors  for  public  men,  —  the 
charge  of  inconsistency.  This  was  his  argument : 
In  1811  the  legislature  of  his  state  had  instructed 
him  to  oppose  the  re-chartering  of  the  bank,  while 
now  the  people  of  his  district,  as  far  as  he  had  been 
able  to  ascertain  their  minds  by  conversation  with 
them,  were  in  favor  of  a  new  bank.  Secondly,  the 
old  bank  had  abused  its  powers  for  political  pur 
poses,  while  the  new  bank  would  be  deterred  from 
doing  so  by  the  fate  of  its  predecessor.  This  was 
making  an  audacious  draft  upon  the  credulity  of 
his  audience.  Thirdly,  the  bank  had  been  uncon 
stitutional  in  1811,  but  it  was  constitutional  in 
1816,  owing  to  a  change  of  circumstances.  We  re 
member  that  magnificent  passage  in  Clay's  speech 
of  1811  in  which  he  arrayed  in  parade  the  monster 
corporations  of  history,  arguing  that  so  tremendous 
a  power  as  the  authority  to  charter  such  compa 
nies  could  not  possibly  have  been  given  to  the  fed 
eral  government  by  mere  inference  and  iniplica- 


134  HENRY  CLAY. 

tion  ;  that,  if  the  Constitution  did  not  grant  that 
power  in  so  many  words,  directly,  specifically,  un 
mistakably,  it  was  not  granted  at  all.  What  did 
he  say  now  ? 

"  The  Constitution  contained  powers  delegated  and  pro 
hibitory,  powers  expressed  and  constructive.  It  vests 
in  Congress  all  powers  necessary  to  give  effect  to  the  enu 
merated  powers.  The  powers  that  may  be  so  necessary 
are  deducible  by  construction.  They  are  not  defined  in 
the  Constitution.  They  are  in  their  nature  undefinable. 
With  regard  to  the  degree  of  necessity  various  rules 
have  been,  at  different  times,  laid  down ;  but  perhaps,  at 
last,  there  is  no  other  than  a  sound  and  honest  judgment, 
exercised  under  the  control  which  belongs  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  people.  It  is  manifest  that  this  necessity 
may  not  be  perceived  at  one  time  under  one  state  of 
things,  while  it  is  perceived  at  another  time  under  a 
different  state  of  things.  The  Constitution,  it  is  true, 
never  changes  ;  it  is  always  the  same  ;  but  the  force  of 
circumstances  and  the  lights  of  experience  may  evolve, 
to  the  fallible  persons  charged  with  its  administration, 
the  fitness  and  necessity  of  a  particular  exercise  of  con 
structive  power  to-day,  which  they  did  not  see  at  a 
former  period." 

And  how  did  he  apply  this  constitutional  theory 
to  the  pending  case  ?  In  1811,  he  said,  the  bank 
did  not  seem  to  him  necessary,  because  it  was  sup 
ported  mainly  upon  the  ground  "  that  it  was  indis 
pensable  to  the  Treasury  operations,"  which,  in  his 
opinion,  could  have  been  sufficiently  aided  by  the 
state  banks  then  existing.  Therefore  the  re-char 
tering  of  the  United  States  Bank  would  have  been, 


IN   THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  '  135 

in  his  view,  at  that  time  unconstitutional.  But 
now  he  beheld  specie  payments  suspended.  He 
saw  about  three  hundred  banking  institutions  which 
had  lost  the  public  confidence  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  and  which  were  exercising  what  had  always 
and  everywhere  been  considered  "  one  of  the  high 
est  attributes  of  sovereignty,"  namely,  the  "  reg 
ulation  of  the  current  medium  of  the  country." 
They  were  no  longer  capable  of  aiding,  but  were 
really  obstructing,  the  operations  of  the  Treasury. 
To  renew  specie  payments  and  to  prevent  further 
disaster  and  distress  a  national  bank  now  appeared 
to  him  "  not  only  necessary,  but  indispensably  nec 
essary."  Under  these  circumstances,  therefore,  he 
considered  the  chartering  of  a  national  bank  con 
stitutional.  "  He  preferred,"  he  added,  "  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  pride  of  opinion  the  evident  in 
terests  of  the  community,  and  determined  to  throw 
himself  upon  their  candor  and  justice.  Had  he  in 
1811  foreseen  what  now  existed,  and  no  objection 
had  lain  against  the  renewal  of  the  charter  other 
than  that  derived  from  the  Constitution,  he  should 
have  voted  for  the  renewal." 

This  was  virtually  a  confession  that  he  had  se 
riously  mistaken  the  situation  of  things  in  1811, 
when,  against  Gallatin's  judgment,  he  had  helped 
in  disarranging  the  fiscal  machinery  of  the  govern 
ment  on  the  eve  of  a  war.  But  it  was  a  confes 
sion,  too,  that  he  had  thrown  overboard  that  con 
stitutional  theory  according  to  which  such  things 
as  the  power  of  chartering  corporations,  not  being 


136  HENRY  CLAY. 

among  the  specifically  granted  powers,  could  not 
be  an  implied  power.  He  had  familiarized  him 
self  with  larger  views  of  governmental  .function, 
as  the  Republic  had  grown  in  dimensions,  in 
strength,  and  in  the  reach  of  its  interests.  In 
deed,  the  reasoning  with  which  he  justified  his 
change  of  position  in  1816  stopped  but  little,  if  at 
all,  short  of  the  assertion  that  whatever  may  be 
considered  necessary,  or  even  eminently  desirable, 
to  help  the  country  over  a  temporary  embarrass 
ment,  may  also  be  considered  constitutional.  Clay, 
who  seldom,  if  ever,  reasoned  out  a  point  in  all 
its  logical  bearings,  would  not  have  admitted  that 
as  a  general  proposition.  But  he  evidently  in 
clined  to  the  most  latitudinarian  construction.  His 
constitutional  principles  had  become  prodigiously 
elastic  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  occa 
sion.  In  this  respect  he  was  not  peculiar.  Most 
of  our  public  men  have  been  inclined  to  interpret 
the  Constitution  according  to  their  purposes.  This 
tendency  was  especially  strong  among  the  young 
Republicans  of  that  period ;  and  there  it  was  all 
the  more  remarkable  as  their  party  had  in  its  de 
sign  and  beginning  been  a  living  protest  against 
the  strong  government  theory  favored  by  the  Fed 
eralists.  There  was,  however,  this  difference  left 
between  them  and  their  old  antagonists  :  the  Fed 
eralists  believed  that  government,  in  order  to  be 
good,  or  even  tolerable,  must  be  strong  enough  to 
restrain  the  disorderly  tendencies  of  democracy  ,* 
while  the  young  Republicans  rejected  the  theory 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   137 

of  strong  government  in  that  sense,  but  believed 
that  it  must  have  large  powers  in  order  to  do  the 
things  which  they  thought  it  should  do  for  the  de 
velopment  of  a  great  nation. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  in  February, 
1817,  Calhoun  took  the  lead  in  advocating  a  bill 
to  set  apart  and  pledge  the  bonus  of  the  national 
bank  and  the  share  of  the  United  States  in  its  divi 
dends,  as  a  permanent  fund  for  "  constructing  roads 
and  canals  and  improving  the  navigation  of  water 
courses,  in  order  to  facilitate,  promote,  and  give 
security  to  internal  commerce  among  the  several 
states,  and  to  render  more  easy  and  less  expensive 
the  means  and  provisions  for  the  common  de 
fense."  In  his  speech  Calhoun  pronounced  him 
self  strongly  in  favor  of  a  latitudinarian  construc 
tion  of  constitutional  powers,  and  a  liberal  exer 
cise  of  them  for  the  purpose  of  binding  the  people 
of  this  vast  country  more  closely  together,  and  of 
preventing  "the  greatest  of  all  calamities,  next 
to  the  loss  of  liberty,  and  even  that  in  its  conse 
quence  —  disunion."  Clay  thanked  him  for  "  the 
able  and  luminous  view  which  he  had  submitted 
to  the  committee  of  the  whole,"  and  vigorously 
urged  the  setting  apart  of  a  fund  to  be  used  at  a 
future  time  when  the  specific  objects  to  be  accom 
plished  should  have  been  more  clearly  ascertained 
and  fixed.  This  contemplated  the  accumulation 
of  funds  in  the  Treasury  with  the  expectation  that 
suitable  objects  would  be  found  for  which  to  spend 
them,  —  a  dangerous  practice  in  a  democratic  gov- 


188  HENRY  CLAY. 

eminent.  "  Congress,"  he  said,  "  could  at  some 
future  day  examine  into  the  constitutionality  of 
the  question,  and  if  it  had  the  power,  it  could  ex 
ercise  it ;  if  it  had  not,  the  Constitution,  there 
could  be  no  doubt,  would  be  so  amended  as  to  con 
fer  it."  At  any  rate,  he  wished  to  have  the  fund 
set  apart.  Clay  himself  did  not  doubt  that  Con 
gress  had  the  constitutional  power  to  use  that 
fund,  and  possibly  he  thought  that,  if  only  the 
money  were  provided  to  be  spent,  Congress  would 
easily  come  to  the  same  conclusion. 

The  bill  passed  both  houses,  but  old-school  Re 
publicanism  once  more  stemmed  the  tide.  Presi 
dent  Madison,  who  himself  had  formerly  expressed 
opinions  favorable  to  internal  improvements,  ve 
toed  it  on  strictly  constitutional  grounds,  much  to 
the  astonishment  and  disgust  of  the  young  Re 
publican  statesmen.  It  was  his  last  act. 

Clay  had  in  the  mean  time,  by  way  of  episode, 
gone  through  the  experience  of  flagging  popularity. 
It  was  not  011  account  of  his  constitutional  doc 
trines,  or  any  other  great  question  of  state,  but  by 
reason  of  a  matter  to  which  he  had  probably  given 
but  little  thought.  At  the  previous  session  he  had 
voted  for  a  bill  to  increase  the  pay  of  members  of 
Congress  from  a  per  diem  of  six  dollars  to  a  fixed 
salary  of  $1,500  a  year,  the  law  to  apply  to  the 
Congress  then  in  session.  He  supported  it  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  never  been  able  to  make  both 
ends  meet  at  Washington.  "  The  rate  of  compen 
sation,"  he  said,  "ought  to  be  such  at  least  as 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   139 

that  ruin  should  not  attend  a  long  service  in  Con 
gress."  Such  arguments  prevailed,  and  the  bill 
passed  both  houses.  But  many  of  Clay's  con 
stituents  thought  differently.  To  the  Kentucky 
farmers  a  yearly  income  of  $1,500  for  a  few 
months'  sitting  on  cushioned  chairs  in  the  Capitol 
looked  monstrously  extravagant.  They  were  sure 
men  could  be  found  who  would  do  the  business  for 
less  money.  When  the  election  of  members  of 
Congress  came  on,  Clay  was  fortunate  enough  to 
force  the  candidate  opposing  him  into  a  "  joint 
debate,"  in  which,  as  that  gentleman  had  been 
"  against  the  war,"  Clay  made  short  work  of  him. 
But  he  himself  had  an  arduous  canvass.  It  was 
then  that  his  meeting  with  the  old  hunter  oc 
curred,  which  furnished  material  for  a  school-book 
anecdote.  The  old  hunter,  who  had  always  voted 
for  Clay,  was  now  resolved  to  vote  against  him  on 
account  of  the  back-pay  bill.  u  My  friend,"  said 
Clay,  u  have  you  a  good  rifle  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  Did 
it  ever  flash?  "  "  Yes,  but  only  once."  "  What 
did  you  do  with  the  rifle  when  it  flashed,  —  throw 
it  away  ?  "  "  No,  I  picked  the  flint,  tried  again, 
and  brought  down  the  game."  "  Have  I  ever 
flashed,  except  upon  the  compensation  bill  ? " 
"  No."  "  Well,  will  you  throw  me  away  ?  "  "  No, 
Mr.  Clay ;  I  will  pick  the  flint  and  try  you  again." 
Clay  was  tried  again,  but  only  by  a  majority  of 
some  six  or  seven  hundred  votes.  At  the  next 
session  of  Congress  he  voted  for  the  repeal  of  the 
compensation  act,  avowedly  on  the  ground  of  its 


140  HENRY  CLAY. 

unpopularity;  but  he  favored  the  raising  of  the 
per  diem.  The  pay  of  members  of  Congress  was 
fixed  at  eight  dollars  per  day.  This  was  the  only 
time  that  his  home  constituency  threatened  to  fail 
him. 

James  Monroe  was  elected  President  in  1816 
with  little  opposition.  He  received  183  electoral 
votes  ;  while  his  competitor,  Rufus  King,  the  can 
didate  of  the  Federalists,  had  only  34.  Mon 
roe  was  inaugurated  March  4,  1817,  and  the  fa 
mous  "  era  of  good  feeling  "  set  in,  —  that  is  to 
say,  with  the  disappearance  of  the  Federal  party 
as  a  national  organization,  the  great  organized  con 
tests  of  the  old  parties  for  power  ceased,  to  make 
room  for  the  smaller  contests  of  personal  ambi 
tions.  But  these  infused  fully  as  much  bitterness 
into  the  era  of  good  feeling  as  the  differences  on 
important  questions  of  public  policy  had  infused 
into  great  party  struggles.  Until  then  the  Presi 
dents  of  the  United  States  had  been  men  of  note 
in  the  American  Revolution.  Monroe  was  the  last 
of  the  Revolutionary  generation  and  of  the  "Vir 
ginia  dynasty."  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  he 
would  have  his  two  terms,  and  that  then  the  com 
petition  for  the  presidency  would  be  open  to  a  new 
class  of  men.  As  Madison  had  been  Jefferson's 
Secretary  of  State  before  he  became  President,  and 
Monroe  had  been  Madison's,  the  secretaryship  of 
state  was  looked  upon  as  the  stepping-stone  to  the 
presidency.  Those  who  expected  to  be  candidates 
for  the  highest  place  in  the  future,  therefore,  cov 
eted  it  with  peculiar  solicitude. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   141 

One  of  them  was  Henry  Clay.  Among  the  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  he  could  find  none,  to 
whom  the  succession  to  Mr.  Monroe,  as  he  believed, 
belonged  more  rightfully  than  to  himself.  Thus 
he  started  on  the  career  of  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  and  that  career  began  with  a  disap 
pointment.  Monroe  selected  for  the  secretaryship 
John  Quincy  Adams,  a  most  excellent  selection, 
although  Clay  very  decidedly  did  not  think  so. 
Monroe  also  signified  his  appreciation  of  Clay's 
merits  by  offering  him  the  war  department,  and 
then  the  mission  to  England.  But  Clay  declined 
both  places,  on  the  ground,  as  Mr.  Adams  reports, 
"  that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  situation  which  he 
held,  and  could  render  more  service  to  the  public 
in  it  than  in  the  other  situations  offered  him." 
This  was  true  enough ;  but  it  is  also  probable  that 
he  was  then  already  resolved  to  stand  as  a  candi 
date  for  the  presidency  after  Monroe's  second  term, 
although  Adams  had  been  designated  as  heir-appa 
rent;  and,  moreover,  his  disappointment  had  so 
affected  his  personal  feelings  toward  Monroe  and 
Adams,  as  to  make  unsuitable  his  acceptance  of  a 
place  among  the  President's  confidential  advisers. 
This  supposition  is  borne  out  by  his  subsequent 
conduct. 

The  fifteenth  Congress  met  on  December  1, 
1817,  and  Clay  was  on  the  same  day  reflected 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  — 140  to  7.  An  oppor 
tunity  for  an  open  disagreement  between  Clay 


142  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  the  administration  was  not  long  in  appearing. 
In  his  first  message  to  Congress,  Monroe,  refer 
ring  to  the  passage  at  the  preceding  session  of  the 
act  concerning  a  fund  for  internal  improvements, 
which  Madison  vetoed,  deemed  it  proper  to  make 
known  his  sentiments  on  that  subject  beforehand, 
so  that  there  should  be  no  uncertainty  as  to  his 
prospective  action  in  case  such  a  bill  were  passed 
again.  He  declared  it  to  be  his  "  settled  con 
viction  "  that  Congress  did  not  possess  the  right 
of  constructing  roads  and  canals.  "  It  is  not  con 
tained  in  any  of  the  specified  powers  granted  to 
Congress ;  nor  can  I  consider  it  incidental  to,  or 
a  necessary  means,  viewed  on  the  most  liberal  scale, 
for  carrying  into  effect  any  of  the  powers  specific 
ally  granted."  He  then  suggested,  as  Jefferson 
and  Madison  had  done,  the  adoption  of  a  constitu 
tional  amendment  to  give  to  Congress  the  right  in 
question. 

This  spontaneous  declaration  by  the  President 
of  what  he  intended  to  do  in  certain  contingencies 
was  taken  as  something  like  a  challenge,  and  the 
challenge  was  promptly  accepted.  Calhoun,  next 
to  Clay  the  foremost  champion  of  internal  improve 
ments,  having  gone  into  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary 
of  War,  Tucker  of  Virginia  reported  on  December 
15,  from  a  select  committee,  a  resolution  equiva 
lent  to  that  which  Madison  had  vetoed.  Against 
it  Monroe's  constitutional  objections  were  mar 
shaled  in  debate.  Clay  took  up  the  gauntlet  and 
made  two  speeches,  in  which  he  disclosed  his  views 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES      143 

of  policy,  as  well  as  his  constitutional  principles: 
more  pointedly  than  he  had  ever  done  before.  He 
maintained  that  the  Constitution  did  give  the  gen 
eral  government  the  power  to  construct  roads  and 
canals,  and  that  the  consent  of  the  states,  which 
had  been  thought  necessary  in  the  case  of  the 
Cumberland  Road,  was  not  required  at  all.  He 
spoke  as  a  western  man,  as  a  representative  of  a 
new  country  and  a  pioneer  population,  needing 
means  of  communication,  channels  of  commerce 
and  intelligence,  as  the  breath  of  life.  He  spoke  as 
a  citizen  of  the  Union,  looking  forward  to  a  great 
destiny.  Was  the  Constitution,  he  asked,  giving 
Congress  the  power  to  establish  post-offices  and 
post-roads,  and  to  regulate  commerce  between  the 
states,  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  Atlantic  mar 
gin  of  the  country  only?  Was  the  Constitution 
made  only  for  the  few  millions  then  inhabiting  this 
continent  ?  No  !  "  Every  man,"  he  exclaimed, 
"  who  looks  at  the  Constitution  in  the  spirit  to  en 
title  him  to  the  character  of  a  statesman,  must 
elevate  his  views  to  the  height  which  this  nation 
is  destined  to  reach  in  the  rank  of  nations.  We 
are  not  legislating  for  this  moment  only,  or  for 
the  present  generation,  or  for  the  present  populated 
limits  of  the  United  States;  but  our  acts  must 
embrace  a  wider  scope,  —  reaching  northwestward 
to  the  Pacific,  and  southwardly  to  the  river  Del 
Norte.  Imagine  this  extent  of  territory  covered 
with  sixty,  or  seventy,  or  an  hundred  millions  of 
people.  The  powers  which  exist  in  this  govern- 


144  HENRY  CLAY. 

ment  now  will  exist  then;  and  those  which  will 
exist  then  exist  now." 

"  What  was  the  object  of  the  Convention,"  he 
asked,  "in  framing  the  Constitution?  The  lead 
ing  object  was  UNION.  Union,  then,  peace  ex 
ternal  and  internal,  and  commerce,  but  more  par 
ticularly  union  and  peace,  the  great  objects  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution,  should  be  kept  stead 
ily  in  view  in  the  interpretation  of  any  clause  of 
it ;  and  where  it  is  susceptible  of  various  inter 
pretations,  that  construction  should  be  preferred 
which  tends  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution,  to  the  consolidation  of  the 
Union."  This  he  emphasized  with  still  greater 
force.  "  I  am  a  friend,  a  true  friend,  to  state 
rights,  but  not  in  all  cases  as  they  are  asserted. 
We  should  equally  avoid  that  subtile  process  of 
argument  which  dissipates  into  air  the  powers  of 
the  government,  and  that  spirit  of  encroachment 
which  would  snatch  from  the  states  powers  not 
delegated  to  the  general  government.  We  shall 
then  escape  both  the  dangers  I  have  noticed, — 
that  of  relapsing  into  the  alarming  weakness  of 
the  Confederation,  which  was  described  as  a  mere 
rope  of  sand  ;  and  also  that  other,  perhaps  not  the 
greatest,  danger,  consolidation.  No  man  depre 
cates  more  than  I  do  the  idea  of  consolidation  ; 
yet  between  separation  and  consolidation,  painful 
as  would  be  the  alternative,  I  should  greatly  pre 
fer  the  latter." 

Here  was   the  well-spring   from  which    Henry 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      145 

Clay  drew  his  political  inspirations,  —  a  grand 
conception  of  the  future  destiny  of  the  American 
Republic,  and  of  a  government  adapted  to  the 
fulfillment  of  that  great  destiny ;  an  ardent  love 
for  the  Union,  as  the  ark  of  liberty  and  national 
grandeur,  a  Union  to  be  maintained  at  any  price  ; 
an  imaginative  enthusiasm  which  infused  its  patri 
otic  glow  into  his  political  opinions,  but  which  was 
also  apt  to  carry  him  beyond  the  limits  of  existing 
things  and  conditions,  and  not  seldom  unfitted  him 
for  the  formation  of  a  clear  and  well-balanced 
judgment  of  facts  and  interests.  But  this  enthu 
siastic  conception  of  national  grandeur,  this  lofty 
Unionism  constantly  appearing  as  the  inspiration 
of  his  public  conduct,  gave  to  his  policies,  as  they 
stood  forth  in  the  glow  of  his  eloquence,  a  pecul 
iarly  potent  charm. 

The  result  of  this  debate  was  the  passage,  not  of 
the  resolution  reported  by  Tucker,  but  of  a  substi 
tute  declaring  that  "  Congress  has  power,  under 
the  Constitution,  to  appropriate  money  for  the  con 
struction  of  post-roads,  military  and  other  roads, 
and  of  canals,  and  for  the  improvement  of  water 
courses."  Other  resolutions,  asserting  the  power 
of  Congress  not  only  to  appropriate  money  for 
such  roads  and  canals,  but  to  construct  them,  failed 
by  small  majorities,  so  that  Clay  carried  his  point 
only  in  part. 

That  Clay  would  continue  to  assert  the  power 
of  Congress  to  construct  internal  improvements, 
President  Monroe's  message  notwithstanding,  ev- 
10 


146  HENRY  CLAY. 

erybody  expected.  But  when  he  interspersed  that 
advocacy  with  keen  criticism  of  Monroe's  attitude 
concerning  that  subject,  —  criticism  which  had  a 
strong  flavor  of  bitterness  in  it,  —  the  effect  was 
not  to  his  advantage.  The  unfriendly  tone  of  his 
remarks  was  generally  attributed  to  his  disappoint 
ment  in  the  matter  of  the  secretaryship  of  state. 
Not  many  men  like  to  see  personal  resentments 
carried  into  the  discussion  of  public  interests ;  and 
in  this  case,  to  make  the  matter  worse,  the  dem 
onstrations  of  resentment  were,  in  the  shape  of 
oratorical  flings,  darted  at  a  President  who  was 
by  no  means  a  great  man,  rather  a  man  of  mod 
erate  parts,  but  who  was  regarded  as  inoffensive 
and  well-meaning,  and  as  honestly  busying  himself 
about  his  presidential  duties,  —  one  of  those  re 
spectable  mediocrities  in  high  public  station,  with 
whom  people  are  apt  to  sympathize  in  their 
troubles,  especially  when  unnecessarily  attacked 
and  humiliated  by  persons  of  greatly  superior 
ability. 

But  the  disappointment  of  the  aspirant  for  the 
presidency  was  so  little  under  his  control  that  he 
permitted  it  to  appear  even  in  another  of  his  great 
endeavors,  which,  in  order  to  succeed,  required 
particularly  prudent  management.  This  was  his 
effort  in  behalf  of  the  Spanish  American  colonies, 
which  had  risen  against  the  mother  country,  and 
were  struggling  to  achieve  their  independence. 

It  has  been  said  by  Clay's  opponents  that  his 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  South  American  patriots 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      147 

was  wholly  owing  to  his  desire  to  annoy  the  Monroe 
administration.  This  is  clearly  an  unjust  charge, 
for  he  had  loudly  proclaimed  his  ardent  sympa 
thies  with  the  South  American  insurgents  while 
Madison  was  still  President.  We  remember  that 
in  his  speech  on  the  direct  taxes  in  January,  1816, 
he  seriously  put  the  question  whether  the  United 
States  would  not  have  openly  "  to  take  part  with 
the  patriots  of  South  America."  So  on  January 
24,  1817,  before  Monroe's  inauguration,  he  had 
stoutly  opposed  a  bill  "  more  effectually  to  pre 
serve  the  neutral  relations  of  the  United  States,'' 
intended  to  stop  the  fitting  out  of  armed  cruisers 
in  American  ports  ;  he  had  opposed  the  bill  on 
the  ground  that  it  might  be  advantageous  to  old 
Spain  in  the  South  American  struggle.  All  this 
had  sprung  naturally  from  his  emotional  enthusi 
asm.  He  was  therefore,  although  imprudent  in  his 
propositions,  yet  only  true  to  himself,  when,  under 
Monroe's  administration,  he  continued  to  demand 
that  the  neutrality  law  of  1817  be  repealed ;  that 
our  neutrality  be  so  arranged  as  to  be  as  advan 
tageous  as  possible  to  the  insurgent  colonies ;  and 
finally  that  the  United  States  send  a  minister  to 
the  "  United  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,"  there 
by  formally  recognizing  that  revolutionized  col 
ony  as  an  independent  state.  This  he  proposed  in 
March,  1818.  Three  commissioners  had  been  ap 
pointed  by  the  President  to  go  to  South  America 
for  the  purpose  of  looking  into  the  condition  of 
things ;  and,  to  cover  the  necessary  expenses,  the 


148  HENRY  CLAY. 

President  asked  for  an  appropriation.  Clay  strenu 
ously  opposed  this  on  the  ground  that  the  com 
missioners  had  been  appointed  without  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate.  He  moved  instead  an 
appropriation  for  a  regular  minister  to  be  sent 
there. 

The  speech  with  which  he  supported  this  propo 
sition  was  in  his  grandest  style.  South  America 
had  set  his  imagination  on  fire.  In  gorgeous 
colors  he  drew  a  picture  of  "the  vast  region  in 
which  we  behold  the  most  sublime  and  interesting 
objects  of  creation ;  the  loftiest  mountains,  the 
most  majestic  rivers  in  the  world ;  the  richest 
mines  of  the  precious  metals,  the  choicest  produc 
tions  of  the  earth;  we  behold  there  a  spectacle 
still  more  interesting  and  sublime,  —  the  glorious 
spectacle  of  eighteen  millions  of  people  struggling 
to  burst  their  chains  and  to  be  free."  A  burning 
description  followed  of  their  degradation  and  suf 
ferings,  and  of  the  terrible  cruelties  inflicted  upon 
them  by  their  relentless  oppressors.  In  his  imagi 
nation  they  were  a  people  of  high  mental  and 
moral  qualities,  notwithstanding  their  ignorance 
and  their  subserviency  to  the  influence  of  the 
church.  He  was  sure  that,  "  Spanish  America 
being  once  independent,  whatever  may  be  the 
form  of  the  governments  established  in  its  several 
parts,  these  governments  will  be  animated  by  an 
American  feeling,  and  guided  by  an  American 
policy."  Pie  affirmed  that  they  had  established 
and  for  years  maintained  an  independent  govern- 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   149 

ment  on  the  river  La  Plata,  and  that,  as  the  United 
States  always  recognized  de  facto  governments,  it 
was  a  duty  to  recognize  this.  He  demanded  it  in 
the  name  of  a  just  neutrality.  As  the  United 
States  had  received  a  minister  sent  by  Spain,  so 
they  were  "  bound "  to  receive  a  minister  of  the 
La  Plata  republic  if  they  meant  to  be  neutral. 
"  If  the  royal  belligerent  is  represented  and  heard 
at  our  government,  the  republican  belligerent  ought 
also  to  be  heard."  All  this,  he  thought,  could  be 
done  without  any  danger  of  war.  Spain  herself 
was  too  much  crippled  in  her  resources  to  make 
war  on  the  United  States,  and  no  other  power 
would  do  so. 

It  was  a  brilliant  display  of  oratorical  splen 
dors,  but  the  House  resisted  the  fascination.  In 
the  discussion  which  followed,  much  of  the  halo, 
with  which  Clay's  poetic  fancy  had  surrounded  the 
South  American  people  and  their  struggle,  was  dis 
sipated  by  sober  statements  of  fact.  Neither  was 
it  difficult  to  show  that  Clay  was  much  in  error 
in  his  views  of  true  neutrality,  and  that  neu 
trality  between  two  belligerents  did  by  no  means 
always  require  equal  diplomatic  relations  with 
them.  Finally,  the  contemptuous  flings  at  the 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  with  which 
Clay  seasoned  his  speech,  displeased  a  large  part 
of  the  House.  It  was  well  known  that  Monroe 
and  Adams  were  not  at  all  unfriendly  to  the  in 
surgent  colonies ;  only  they  wanted  to  be  sure  of 
the  fact  that  the  new  government  had  the  neces- 


150  HENRY   CLAY. 

sary  element  of  stability  to  justify  recognition ; 
they  hoped  to  obtain  the  cooperation  of  England 
in  that  recognition  ;  they  desired  to  avoid  the  em 
barrassment  which  a  hasty  recognition  would  cause 
in  the  negotiations  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain  concerning  the  cession  of  Florida ;  and 
finally,  they  wanted  to  be  first  assured  that  the 
public  opinion  of  the  country  would  sustain  them 
in  so  important  a  step. 

The  motion  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  115 
against  45.  But  Monroe  was  terribly  disturbed 
at  Clay's  hostile  attitude,  so  much  so  indeed  that, 
two  or  three  days  after  Clay's  great  speech,  Adams 
wrote  in  his  Diary  :  — 

"  The  subject  which  seems  to  absorb  all  the  faculties 
of  his  (Monroe's)  mind  is  the  violent  systematic  opposi 
tion  that  Clay  is  raising  against  his  administration.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Monroe  added,  if  Mr.  Clay  had  taken  the  ground 
that  the  Executive  had  gone  as  far  as  he  could  go  with 
propriety  towards  the  acknowledgment  of  the  South 
Americans,  that  he  was  well  disposed  to  go  further, 
if  such  were  the  feeling  of  the  nation  and  of  Congress, 
and  had  made  his  motion  with  that  view,  to  ascertain 
the  real  sentiments  of  Congress,  it  might  have  been  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  Executive.  But  between  thaL 
and  the  angry,  acrimonious  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Clay, 
there  was  a  wide  difference." 

Monroe  was  perfectly  right.  Clay  would  have 
served  better  the  cause  he  had  at  heart  had  he 
maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  administra 
tion.  But  that  strange  disturber  of  impulses  and 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.      151 

motives,  of  perceptions  and  conclusions  —  the  aspi 
ration  to  the  presidency  —  clouded  his  discernment. 
In  the  second  session  of  the  fifteenth  Congress 
a  debate  took  place  which  was  destined  to  be  of  far 
greater  consequence  to  Clay's  political  fortunes 
than  anything  that  had  gone  before.  It  was  the 
first  clash  between  Henry  Clay  and  Andrew  Jack 
son.  This  is  the  story.  The  Floridas  were  still  in 
the  possession  of  Spain.  They  served  as  a  place  of 
refuge  for  runaway  slaves,  and  a  base  of  operations 
for  raiding  Indians.  Spain  was  bound  by  treaty  to 
prevent  hostile  excursions  on  the  part  of  the  sav 
ages,  but  too  weak  or  too  negligent  to  do  so.  There 
were  frequent  collisions  between  whites  and  Indi 
ans  on  the  border,  one  party  being  as  often  the 
aggressor  as  the  other.  General  Gaines  sent  sol 
diers  against  the  Indians,  and  an  Indian  war  be 
gan.  In  December,  1817,  General  Jackson  took 
command.  He  received  authority  to  pursue  the 
Indians,  but,  as  the  administration  understood  it, 
he  was  to  respect  Spanish  rights.  This  was  Jack 
son's  famous  Seminole  war.  He  enlisted  volun 
teers  in  Tennessee  by  his  own  proclamation,  without 
waiting  for  the  President  to  call  upon  the  governor 
for  a  levy  of  militia  in  the  legal,  regular  way.  He 
broke  into  Florida  in  March,  1818,  took  the  Span 
ish  fort  of  St.  Mark's,  hung  Indian  chiefs  who  had 
been  captured  by  stratagem  ;  ordered  a  Scotchman 
and  an  Englishman,  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister, 
whom  he  had  found  with  the  Indians,  to  be  tried 
by  court-martial  for  having  instigated  the  sav- 


152  HENRY  CLAY. 

ages  to  hostilities  ;  and  when,  on  very  insufficient 
evidence,  they  were  found  guilty,  he  had  them 
promptly  executed,  after  having  changed  the  sen 
tence  in  Ambrister's  case  from  mere  flogging  to  the 
penalty  of  death  by  shooting ;  he  took  Pensacola 
on  his  way  home,  deposed  the  Spanish  governor, 
appointed  a  new  one,  left  a  garrison  there,  and  con 
ducted  himself  throughout  as  a  victorious  general 
with  absolute  power  in  a  conquered  country,  like  a 
Roman  proconsul  in  a  subjugated  province. 

When  the  news  arrived  in  Washington,  the 
President  and  the  Cabinet  were  astonished  and 
perplexed.  Except  Adams,  who  was  always  in 
clined  to  take  the  highest  ground  for  his  country 
against  any  foreign  power,  they  all  agreed  that 
General  Jackson  had  gone  far  beyond  his  instruc 
tions  and  done  lawless  things.  Calhoun,  the  Sec 
retary  of  War,  thought  that  the  General  should 
promptly  be  held  to  a  severe  account.  But  they 
shrunk  from  affronting  the  "hero  of  New  Orleans." 
The  administration  finally  concluded  to  restore  to 
the  Spaniards  possession  of  the  forts  taken  by 
General  Jackson,  and  to  affirm  that  the  capture  of 
those  places  by  Jackson  and  his  conduct  generally 
were  justified,  on  the  principle  of  self-defense,  by 
the  hostile  attitude  of  the  Spanish  governors,  thus 
denying  that  any  warlike  step  had  been  taken 
against  Spain,  while  at  the  same  time  making  a 
case  against  her  officers. 

On  January  16,  1819,  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  began  the  discussion  of  a  resolution  reported 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       153 

by  its  military  committee,  "  disapproving  the  pro 
ceedings  in  the  trial  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister," 
to  which  three  further  resolutions  were  added,  de 
claring  the  seizure  of  Pensacola  and  Fort  Barrancas 
to  have  been  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  calling  for  appropriate  legisla 
tion.  A  debate  of  three  weeks  followed,  in  which 
Clay  was  the  most  prominent  figure  on  the  anti- 
Jackson  side.  He  had  no  personal  feeling  against 
General  Jackson.  On  the  contrary  he  was  sin 
cerely  and  profoundly  grateful  to  the  man  who, 
after  all  the  disgraceful  failures  of  the  war  of  1812, 
had  so  brilliantly  restored  the  lustre  of  the  Amer 
ican  arms,  and  enabled  him  to  "  go  to  England 
without  mortification."  But  as  a  friend  of  constitu 
tional  government  he  felt  that  he  could  not  possibly 
approve  of  the  General's  lawless  conduct  in  Flor 
ida.  There  is  no  reason  to  attribute  the  position 
he  took  to  any  but  conscientious  motives.  But  he 
•was  an  aspirant  to  the  presidency,  and  known  to  be 
such,  while  Jackson,  too,  was  beginning  to  be  whis 
pered  about  as  a  possible  candidate  for  that  honor. 
Would  not  a  frank  expression  of  his  views  on 
Jackson's  conduct  appear  like  an  attempt  to  injure 
a  dreaded  rival  ?  It  dawned  upon  him  that  his 
unnecessary  flings  at  the  Monroe  administration 
had  subjected  his  motives  to  suspicion,  and  thus, 
while  attacking,  he  felt  himself  on  the  defensive. 
He  began  with  an  almost  painful  effort  to  retrieve 
the  ground  which  he  feared  that  he  had  lost  in  the 
confidence  of  the  House  and  the  country :  — 


154  HENRY  CLAY. 

"  In  rising  to  address  you,  sir,  I  must  be  allowed  to 
say,  that  all  inferences,  drawn  from  the  course  which  it 
will  be  my  painful  duty  to  take  in  this  discussion,  of  un 
friendliness  either  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  coun 
try,  or  to  the  illustrious  military  chieftain  whose  opera 
tions  are  under  investigation,  will  be  wholly  unfounded. 
Toward  that  distinguished  captain  who  shed  so  much 
glory  on  our  country,  whose  renown  constitutes  so  great 
a  portion  of  its  moral  property,  I  never  had,  I  never  can 
have,  any  other  feelings  than  those  of  the  most  profound 
respect  and  of  the  utmost  kindness.  I  know  the  mo 
tives  which  have  been,  and  will  again  be,  attributed  to 
me  in  regard  to  the  other  exalted  personage  alluded  to. 
They  have  been  and  they  will  be  unfounded.  I  have  no 
interest  other  than  that  of  seeing  the  concerns  of  my 
country  well  and  happily  administered.  Rather  than 
throw  obstructions  in  the  way  of  the  President,  I  would 
precede  him  and  pick  out  those,  if  I  could,  which  might 
jostle  him  in  his  progress.  I  may  be  again  reluctantly 
compelled  to  differ  from  him,  but  I  will  with  the  utmost 
sincerity  assure  the  committee  that  I  have  formed  no 
resolution,  come  under  no  engagements,  and  that  I  never 
will  form  any  resolution,  or  contract  any  engagements, 
for  systematic  opposition  to  his  administration,  or  to 
that  of  any  other  chief  magistrate. " 

This  might  have  been  sufficient  to  disarm  suspi 
cion,  had  he  not  been  believed  to  have  an  eye  to 
ward  the  presidency. 

He  arraigned  General  Jackson's  conduct  with 
dignity  and  a  certain  degree  of  moderation.  He 
emphatically  acquitted  him  of  "any  intention  to 
violate  the  laws  of  his  country,  or  the  obligations 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.     155 

of  humanity."  He  declared  himself  far  from  wish 
ing  to  intimate  that  "  General  Jackson  cherished 
any  design  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  people." 
He  believed  the  General's  "  intentions  to  be  pure 
and  patriotic."  But  he  denounced  the  hanging  of 
Indian  chiefs  without  trial,  "  under  color  of  retal 
iation,"  as  utterly  unjustifiable  and  disgraceful. 
He  admitted  retaliation  as  justifiable  only  when 
"  calculated  to  produce  an  effect  in  the  war,"  but 
never  on  the  motive  of  mere  vengeance.  As  to 
Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  whether  they  were  in 
nocent  or  guilty,  he  utterly  rejected  the  argument 
by  which  Jackson  tried  to  justify  their  execution, 
namely,  "  that  it  is  an  established  principle  of  the 
law  of  nations,  that  any  individual  of  a  nation, 
making  war  against  the  citizens  of  any  other  na 
tion,  they  being  at  peace,  forfeits  his  allegiance, 
and  becomes  an  outlaw  and  a  pirate."  He  main 
tained  that,  "  whatever  may  be  the  character  of  in 
dividuals  making  private  war,  the  principle  is  to 
tally  erroneous  when  applied  to  such  individuals 
associated  with  a  power,  whether  Indian  or  civil 
ized,  capable  of  maintaining  the  relations  of  peace 
or  war."  He  showed  that  Jackson's  doctrine 
would  make  every  foreign  subject  serving  in  an 
American  army  an  outlaw  and  a  pirate  ;  he  might 
have  cited  La  Fayette  and  Steuben.  This  was  the 
moral  he  drew  :  — 

"  However  guilty  these  men  were,  they  should  not  have 
been  condemned  or  executed  without  the  authority  of 
law.  I  will  not  dwell  on  the  effect  of  these  prece- 


156  HENRY  CLAY. 

dents  in  foreign  countries,  but  I  shall  not  pass  unnoticed 
their  dangerous  influence  in  our  own.  Bad  examples 
are  generally  set  in  the  case  of  bad  men,  and  often  re 
mote  from  the  central  government.  It  was  in  the  prov 
inces  that  were  laid  the  seeds  of  the  ambitious  projects 
which  overturned  the  liberties  of  Rome." 

He  affirmed  that  Jackson,  going  far  beyond  the 
spirit  of  his  instructions,  had  not  only  assumed,  by 
an  unauthorized  construction  of  his  own,  to  deter 
mine  what  Spain  was  bound  by  treaty  to  do,  but  had 
"  also  assumed  the  power,  belonging  to  Congress 
alone,  of  determining  what  should  be  the  effect 
and  consequence  of  her  breach  of  engagement ;  " 
that  then  he  had  seized  the  Spanish  forts  and  thus 
usurped  the  power  of  making  war,  which  the  Con 
stitution  had  "  expressly  and  exclusively  "  vested 
in  Congress,  "  to  guard  our  country  against  pre 
cisely  that  species  of  rashness  which  has  been  man 
ifested  in  Florida."  A  glowing  peroration  fol 
lowed,  protesting  against  "  the  alarming  doctrine 
of  unlimited  discretion  in  our  military  command 
ers,"  and  pointing  out  how  other  free  nations, 
from  antiquity  down,  had  lost  their  liberties,  and 
how  we  might  lose  ours.  "  Are  former  services," 
he  exclaimed,  "  however  eminent,  to  preclude  even 
inquiry  into  recent  conduct  ?  Is  there  to  be  no 
limit,  no  prudential  bounds  to  the  national  grati 
tude  ?  I  hope  gentlemen  will  deliberately  survey 
the  awful  isthmus  on  which  we  stand.  They  may 
bear  down  all  opposition  ;  they  may  even  vote  the 
General  the  public  thanks;  they  may  carry  him 


IN  TEE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       157 

triumphantly  through  this  House.  But  if  they  do 
so,  it  will  be  a  triumph  of  the  principle  of  insub 
ordination,  a  triumph  of  the  military  over  the  civil 
authority,  a  triumph  over  the  powers  of  this  House, 
a  triumph  over  the  Constitution  of  the  land.  And 
I  pray  most  devoutly  to  Heaven  that  it  may  not 
prove,  in  its  ultimate  effects  and  consequences,  a 
triumph  over  the  liberties  of  the  people." 

It  was  a  fine  speech  and  much  admired ;  brill 
iant  in  diction ;  statesmanlike  in  reasoning  ;  full 
of  stirring  appeals ;  also  undoubtedly  right  in  its 
general  drift  of  argument.  But  it  had  some  very 
weak  points.  Clay  had  again  gone  a  little  beyond 
what  the  occasion  required  ;  he  had  attacked,  aside 
from  Jackson's  conduct  in  Florida,  certain  Indian 
treaties  which  Jackson  had  made,  and  this  attack 
was  based  upon  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  facts. 
Such  flaws  were  exposed,  and  thus  the  impression 
was  created  that  he  had  been  rather  quick  in  mak 
ing  his  assault  without  having  taken  the  trouble  of 
thoroughly  studying  his  case.  In  fact,  he  had  not 
exactly  measured  the  power  which  in  this  instance 
he  had  to  deal  with.  It  was  the  popularity  of  a 
victorious  soldier. 

A  military  "  hero  "  has  an  immense  advantage 
over  ordinary  mortals,  especially  in  a  country 
where  the  military  hero  is  a  rare  character.  The 
achievements  of  statesmen  usually  remain  subject 
to  differences  of  opinion.  A  victory  011  the  field 
of  battle  won  for  the  country  is  a  title  to  public 
gratitude,  seldom  to  be  questioned  by  anybody. 


158  HENRY  CLAY. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  pride.  It  lives  in  the 
imagination  of  the  people.  That  imagination  is 
apt  to  attribute  to  the  hero  of  such  a  victory  an 
abundance  of  other  good  qualities.  His  failings 
are  judged  with  leniency.  To  many  it  appears 
almost  sacrilegious  to  think  that  a  man  who  has 
rendered  his  country  service  so  valuable  in  the 
crisis  of  war  should  ever  be  able  to  act  upon  any 
but  the  most  patriotic  motives.  It  will  require 
an  extraordinary  degree  of  wrong-doing  on  his 
part  to  make  suspicion  and  criticism  with  regard 
to  him  acceptable  to  the  popular  mind ;  and  even 
then  he  is  apt  to  be  easily  forgiven. 

General  Jackson  enjoyed  this  advantage  in  the 
highest  degree.  He  had  given  the  American  peo 
ple  a  brilliant  victory  when  it  was  most  needed  to 
soothe  the  popular  pride.  Would  he  disgrace  and 
endanger  the  Republic  after  having  so  magnifi 
cently  fought  for  it  ?  To  convince  the  people,  and 
to  make  Congress  declare,  that  he  had  done  so, 
would  have  required  a  very  calm  and  careful  pre 
sentation  of  the  case,  moving  from  point  to  point 
of  the  allegation,  and  proving  every  position  with 
evidence  so  conclusive  as  to  extort  a  verdict  of 
guilty  from  ever  so  unwilling  a  jury.  Even  then 
the  result  would  not  have  been  certain.  But  any 
argument  not  absolutely  irrefutable ;  any  arraign 
ment  having  in  it  the  smallest  flaw ;  any  appeal 
proceeding  in  the  slightest  degree  upon  a  mere  as 
sumption  of  fact,  was  sure  to  be  drowned  by  a  cry 
far  more  powerful  than  any  oratorical  declamation, 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   159 

—  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  So  it  was  in  this 
instance.  The  hero  of  New  Orleans  could  not  have 
intended,  he  could  not  have  done,  any  wrong.  At 
any  rate,  he  had  full  absolution  for  what  he  had 
done,  perhaps  also  for  what  he  might  do  in  the 
future,  and  the  resolutions  disapproving  his  con 
duct  were  voted  down  by  heavy  majorities. 

Thus  was  Henry  Clay  defeated  in  his  first  en 
counter  with  Andrew  Jackson.  The  great  duel 
had  begun  which  was  to  embitter  the  best  part  of 
Clay's  life.  His  war  of  1812  had  put  the  military 
hero  into  his  way,  and  a  military  hero,  too,  of  the 
most  exasperating  kind  ;  a  hero  who  would  not  be 
conciliated  by  a  mere  recognition  of  his  good  in 
tentions  ;  who  demanded  absolute  compliance  with 
his  will,  and  who  treated  any  one  finding  fault 
with  him  as  little  better  than  "  an  outlaw  and  a 
pirate ;  "  a  hero  who  not  seldom  made  Clay  al 
most  despair  of  the  Republic.  The  case  was  in 
deed  not  as  desperate  as  Clay  sometimes  feared. 
Victorious  generals  begin  to  become  really  danger 
ous  to  republican  institutions  when  a  large  portion 
of  the  people  are  tired  of  popular  liberty.  It  is 
true,  however,  that  their  peculiarly  privileged  posi 
tion  before  the  popular  mind  may  put  those  in 
stitutions  at  all  times  to  temporary  strain,  and  fa 
cilitate  the  establishment  of  precedents  prolific  of 
evil. 

For  the  present  General  Jackson,  "  vindicated  " 
by  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  received 
wherever  he  went  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  was 


160  HENRY  CLAY. 

"thought  of  in  connection  with  the  presidency," 
not  only  as  a  hero,  but  as  a  persecuted  hero.  At 
the  same  time  Clay's  star  seemed  to  be  somewhat 
obscured.  The  impression  that  his  disappoint 
ment  with  regard  to  the  secretaryship  of  state  had 
led  him  to  make  a  factious  opposition  to  the  ad 
ministration,  had  lowered  him  in  the  estimation 
of  many  men.  This  impression  had  become  so 
general  as  to  make  his  reasons  for  permitting  now 
and  then  an  administration  measure  to  pass  un 
challenged  a  matter  of  gossiping  speculation.  A 
striking  instance  of  this  is  found  in  Mr.  Adams's 
Diary,  where  Mr.  Middleton,  of  South  Carolina,  is 
introduced  as  telling  the  story,  that  Clay  neglected 
to  oppose  a  certain  bill  because  "  the  last  fortnight 
of  the  session  Clay  spent  almost  every  night  at 
the  card  table,  and  one  night  Poindexter  had  won 
of  him  eight  thousand  dollars.  This  discomposed 
him  to  such  a  degree  that  he  paid  no  attention  to 
the  business  of  the  House  the  remainder  of  the 
session.  Before  it  closed,  however,  he  had  won 
back  from  Poindexter  all  that  he  had  lost,  except 
about  nine  hundred  dollars."  Whether  this  story 
in  all  its  details  was  true  or  not,  certain  it  is  that 
Clay  at  that  period  spent  far  more  time  at  the  card 
table  than  was  good  for  his  reputation.  Indeed, 
Nathan  Sargent  says  in  his  recollections  ("  Pub 
lic  Men  and  Events  ")  :  "  When  a  candidate  for 
the  presidency,  Mr.  Clay  was  denounced  as  a 
gambler.  He  was  no  more  a  gambler  than  was  al 
most  every  Southern  and  Southwestern  gentleman 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       161 

of  that  day.  Play  was  a  passion  with  them  ;  it 
was  a  social  enjoyment ;  they  loved  its  excitement, 
and  they  played  whenever  and  wherever  they  met ; 
not  for  the  purpose  of  winning  money  of  one  an 
other,  which  is  the  gambler's  motive,  but  for  the 
pleasure  it  gave  them.  They  bet  high  as  a  matter 
of  pride  and  to  give  interest  to  the  game."  But 
Clay  himself  felt  that  his  habits  in  that  respect 
had  been  unfavorably  noticed.  Soon  afterwards, 
in  a  speech  in  the  House,  he  referred  by  way  of  il 
lustration  to  games  of  chance,  as  "  an  amusement 
which  in  early  life  he  had  sometimes  indulged  in, 
but  which  years  and  experience  had  determined 
him  to  renounce."  To  a  man  of  Clay's  standing 
before  the  country  there  was  a  keen  self-humilia 
tion  in  a  remark  like  this,  and  he  would  hardly 
have  made  it,  had  he  not  thought  something  like 
a  promise  of  better  conduct  urgently  called  for. 
The  promise  referred,  however,  only  to  "  games  of 
chance,"  for  whist  seemed  to  maintain  an  almost 
irresistible  charm  over  him,  except  in  his  own 
house  at  Ashland,  where  no  card  playing  was  al 
lowed. 

Clay's  political  standing  was  so  much  shaken 
that  about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth 
Congress,  in  December,  1819,  several  members  of 
the  House  went  to  President  Monroe  to  consult 
with  him  as  to  whether  it  would  be  advisable  to 
displace  Clay  as  Speaker.  Adams  says  in  his 
Diary  that  Monroe  advised  against  it,  partly  be 
cause  such  a  movement  would  increase  Clay's  im- 
11 


162  HENRY  CLAY. 

portance,  partly  because  Clay's  course  had  injured 
liis  own  influence  more  than  that  of  the  adminis 
tration,  and  partly  because,  as  there  was  no  western 
man  in  the  Cabinet,  it  was  a  matter  of  pride  with 
that  part  of  the  country  to  have  a  western  man  in 
the  Speaker's  chair,  and  there  was  no  western  man 
of  sufficient  eminence  to  be  put  in  competition  with 
Clay.  "  In  all  this,"  wrote  Adams,  "  I  think  the 
President  has  acted  and  spoken  wisely."  It  was 
indeed  wisely  spoken,  for,  had  a  contest  been  made, 
it  would  after  all  have  appeared  that  most  of  the 
members  of  the  House,  although  they  voted  against 
Clay  time  and  again  in  his  opposition  to  the  ad 
ministration,  were  proud  of  the  lustre  his  brill 
iant  abilities  shed  upon  the  House,  believed  in  his 
patriotism,  and  liked  the  gay,  spirited,  dashing 
Kentuckian  as  a  man.  So  he  was,  on  the  first 
day  of  the  session,  December  6,  1819,  reflected 
Speaker  virtually  without  opposition. 

Before  long  he  was  up  in  arms  against  the  ad 
ministration  again.  After  long  and  arduous  nego 
tiation,  Mr.  Adams  had,  in  February,  1819,  con 
cluded  a  treaty  with  the  Spanish  Minister,  which 
provided  for  the  cession  of  the  whole  of  Florida 
to  this  Republic,  fixed  the  southwestern  boundary 
line  of  the  United  States  along  the  Sabine  River 
(thus  excluding  Texas),  expunged  the  claims  of 
Spanish  subjects  against  the  United  States,  and 
provided  that  the  United  States,  as  a  compensation 
for  the  cession  of  Florida,  should  undertake  to  set 
tie  the  claims  of  American  citizens  against  Spain 


JN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.    163 

to  an  amount  not  exceeding  15,000,000.  The 
treaty  was  unanimously  approved  by  the  Sen 
ate  ;  but  the  King  of  Spain,  faithlessly  it  was 
thought,  withheld  his  ratification  of  it,  which  ratifi 
cation  should  have  taken  place  within  six  months. 
This  conduct  produced  an  irritating  effect  in  the 
United  States.  Many  were  in  favor  of  treating 
the  whole  matter  again  as  an  open  one.  The  prop 
osition  to  take  forcible  possession  of  Florida  was 
freely  discussed  and  widely  approved,  and  a  bill 
to  that  effect  was  introduced  in  Congress.  Then 
the  news  arrived  that  the  Spanish  government  had 
sent  a  new  minister.  Under  these  circumstances 
Monroe  addressed  a  special  message  to  Congress, 
on  March  27,  1820,  mentioning  the  friendly  inter 
est  taken  in  the  matter  by  the  great  powers  of 
Europe,  —  England,  Russia,  and  France  ;  express 
ing  the  hope  that,  in  response  to  their  solicitations, 
the  King  of  Spain  would  soon  ratify  the  treaty, 
and  suggesting  that  Congress  for  the  time  being 
should  postpone  action  on  the  matter. 

This  brought  Clay  to  his  feet.  He  took  the 
ground  that,  as  the  King  of  Spain  had  not  ratified 
it  within  the  prescribed  time,  the  whole  treaty  had 
fallen,  and  that  it  ought  not  to  be  renewed,  mainly 
because  it  had,  by  accepting  the  Sabine  as  the 
southwestern  boundary  line,  instead  of  insisting 
upon  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  surrendered  to 
Spain  a  large  and  valuable  territory  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  namely  Texas.  It  had  indeed 
been  a  disputed  question  whether  the  limits  of 


164  HENRY  CLAY. 

Louisiana  did  not  embrace  Texas.  If  so,  Texas 
belonged  by  purchase  to  the  United  States  ;  if  not, 
it  was  considered  part  of  the  Spanish  American 
territory.  Adams,  in  making  his  treaty,  had  only 
reluctantly  given  up  the  line  of  the  Rio  Grande 
del  Norte,  and  accepted  that  of  the  Sabine  ;  he 
might  have  carried  his  point,  had  not  Monroe,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet,  desired 
the  Sabine  as  a  boundary  for  peculiar  reasons. 
In  a  letter  to  General  Jackson  he  said  :  "  Having 
long  known  the  repugnance  with  which  the  eastern 
portion  of  our  Union  have  seen  its  aggrandizement 
to  the  West  and  South,  I  have  been  decidedly  of 
opinion  that  we  ought  to  be  content  with  Florida 
for  the  present."  It  was,  therefore,  in  deference 
to  what  Monroe  understood  to  be  northeastern  sen 
timent  that  Texas  was  given  up,  and  it  was  the 
abandonment  of  Texas  which  Clay  put  forward  as 
a  decisive  reason  for  not  renewing  the  Spanish 
treaty. 

He  introduced  two  resolutions  in  the  House  : 
one  asserting  that  no  treaty  making  a  cession  of 
territory  was  valid  without  the  concurrence  of  Con 
gress  ;  and  the  other,  substantially,  that  the  cession 
of  Florida  to  the  United  States  was  not  an  "  ade 
quate  equivalent  "  for  the  "  transfer  "  of  Texas  by 
the  United  States  to  Spain.  In  support  of  these 
resolutions  he  made  a  fiery  speech,  fiercely  casti 
gating  the  administration  for  truckling  to  foreign 
powers,  and  extolling  the  value  of  Texas,  which  he 
stoutly  assumed  to  belong  to  the  United  States  un- 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.    165 

der  the  Louisiana  purchase.  Texas  was,  in  his 
opinion,  much  more  valuable  than  Florida.  Even 
if  the  treaty  were  not  renewed,  Florida  would 
surely  drop  into  our  lap  at  last,  but  Texas  might 
escape  us.  Lowndes  answered,  as  to  the  first  reso 
lution,  that,  if  the  principle  asserted  by  Clay  were 
admitted  in  its  whole  breadth,  the  treaty-making 
power  under  the  Constitution  (the  President  and 
the  Senate)  would  no  longer  have  authority  to 
make  a  treaty  for  a  boundary  rectification,  which 
almost  always  involved  a  cession  of  territory  on 
one  side  or  the  other  ;  and,  as  to  the  second  resolu 
tion,  that  Texas  had  always  been  considered  by 
the  United  States  as  a  debatable  territory,  and  it 
had  been  given  up  as  such,  not  as  a  territory 
clearly  belonging  to  this  Republic. 

Clay's  resolutions  failed.  The  King  of  Spain 
finally  ratified  the  treaty,  the  Senate  reaffirmed  it 
by  all  except  four  votes,  and  it  was  proclaimed  by 
Monroe,  February  22,  1821.  But  Clay  had  made 
his  mark  as  maintaining  the  right  of  the  United 
States  to  Texas.  Plow  little  could  he  then  foresee 
what  a  fateful  part  the  acquisition  of  Texas  was  to 
play  twenty-four  years  later  in  his  public  career ! 

The  miscarriage  of  his  opposition  to  the  Spanish 
treaty  did  not  deter  him  from  renewing  his  efforts 
for  the  South  American  colonies.  On  May  20, 
1820,  he  spoke  to  a  resolution  he  had  moved,  de 
claring  it  expedient  to  provide  outfits  and  salaries 
for  a  minister  or  ministers  to  be  sent  to  "  any  of 
the  governments  in  South  America  which  have  es- 


166  HENRY   CLAY. 

tablished  and  are  maintaining  their  independence 
of  Spain."  His  attacks  became  more  virulent. 
For  instance :  "  If  Lord  Castlereagh  says  we  may 
recognize,  we  do ;  if  not,  we  do  not.  A  single  ex 
pression  of  the  British  Minister  to  the  present  Sec 
retary  of  State,  then  our  minister  a,broad,  I  am 
ashamed  to  say,  has  moulded  the  policy  of  our  gov 
ernment  toward  South  America."  In  the  same 
speech  he  furnished  a  picture  of  the  character  of 
the  South  American  people  and  their  future  rela 
tions  with  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  his 
imagination  painted  it.  "  That  country  has  now  a 
population  of  eighteen  millions.  The  same  activ 
ity  in  the  principle  of  population  would  exist  in 
that  country  as  here.  Twenty-five  years  hence,  it 
might  be  estimated  at  thirty -six  millions  ;  fifty 
years  hence  at  seventy-two.  We  have  now  a  popu 
lation  of  ten  millions.  From  the  character  of  our 
population  we  must  always  take  the  lead  in  com 
merce  and  manufactures.  Imagine  the  vast  power 
of  the  two  countries,  and  the  value  of  the  inter 
course  between  them,  when  we  shall  have  a  popula 
tion  of  forty,  and  they  of  seventy  millions  !  "  The 
fifty  years  are  over,  and  we  have  had  ample  op 
portunity  to  appreciate  this  forecast.  As  to  their 
political  capabilities,  too,  he  entertained  glowing 
expectations.  "  Some  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  had 
intimated  that  the  people  of  the  South  were  unfit 
for  freedom.  In  some  particulars,  he  ventured  to 
say,  the  people  of  South  America  were  in  advance 
of  us.  Grenada,  Venezuela,  and  Buenos  Ayres 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       167 

had  all  emancipated  their  slaves;  —  [recollecting 
himself]  he  did  not  say  that  we  ought  to  do  so, 
or  that  they  ought  to  have  done  so  under  different 
circumstances,  but  he  rejoiced  that  the  circum 
stances  were  such  as  to  permit  them  to  do  it." 

His  resolution  passed  by  80  yeas  to  75  nays, 
but  the  administration,  which  was  then  still  occu 
pied  with  the  Spanish  treaty,  did  not  stir.  Clay 
returned  to  the  charge  in  February,  1821,  when  he 
moved  directly  an  appropriation  for  the  sending 
of  a  minister  or  ministers  to  South  America,  which 
was  defeated  by  a  small  majority,  owing  probably 
to  the  arrival  at  that  time  of  the  ratification  of  the 
Spanish  treaty  by  the  king.  But,  nothing  daunted, 
he  was  up  again  shortly  afterwards  with  a  resolu 
tion  "  that  the  House  of  Representatives  partici 
pates  with  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the 
deep  interest  which  they  feel  for  the  Spanish  prov 
inces  of  South  America,  which  are  struggling  to 
establish  their  liberty  and  independence,  and  that 
it  will  give  its  constitutional  support  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  whenever  he  may  deem 
it  expedient  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  and  inde 
pendence  of  any  of  the  said  provinces."  This  reso 
lution,  being  mainly  a  declaration  of  mere  senti 
ment,  passed,  the  first  clause  by  134  yeas  to  12 
nays,  and  the  second  by  87  to  68.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Clay 
himself,  to  present  this  resolution  to  the  President. 
Still  the  administration  would  not  move  until  a 
year  later,  when  the  ability  of  the  South  Ameri- 


168  HENRY  CLAY. 

can  republics  to  maintain  their  independence  was 
as  a  matter  of  fact  beyond  reasonable  doubt.  On 
March  8,  1822,  Monroe  sent  a  message  to  Con 
gress  recommending  the  recognition  of  the  inde 
pendent  South  American  governments,  which  was 
promptly  responded  to. 

Clay's  efforts  in  behalf  of  this  cause  gave  him 
great  renown  in  South  America.  Some  of  his 
speeches  were  translated  into  Spanish  and  read  at 
the  head  of  the  revolutionary  armies.  His  name 
was  a  household  word  among  the  patriots.  In  the 
United  States,  too,  his  fervid  appeals  in  behalf 
of  an  oppressed  people  fighting  for  their  liberty 
awakened  the  memories  of  the  North  American 
war  for  independence,  and  called  forth  strong  emo 
tions  of  sympathy.  There  is  no  doubt  that  those 
appeals  were  on  his  part  not  a  mere  mano3uvre  of 
opposition,  but  came  straight  from  his  generous 
impulses.  The  idea  of  the  whole  American  con 
tinent  being  occupied  by  a  great  family  of  repub 
lics  naturally  flattered  his  imagination.  That  im 
agination  supplied  the  struggling  brethren  with 
all  the  excellent  qualities  he  desired  them  to  pos 
sess,  and  his  chivalrous  nature  was  impatient 
to  rush  to  their  aid.  This  tendency  was  rein 
forced  by  his  general  aptness  to  take  a  somewhat 
superficial  view  of  things,  and,  as  is  often  the 
case  with  men  of  the  oratorical  temperament,  to 
persuade  himself  with  the  gorgeous  flow  of  his 
own  rhetoric.  That  his  own  thoughts  appear  to 
him  originally  in  the  seductive  garb  of  sonorous 


IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.       169 

phrase,  is  a  source  of  serious  danger  to  the  orator 
ical  statesman.  The  influence  which  his  embit 
tered  feeling  towards  the  administration  had  on 
Clay's  conduct,  was  simply  to  make  him  more  in 
accessible  to  the  prudential  reasons  which  the  ad 
ministration  had  for  its  dilatory  policy.  There 
was  indeed  a  fundamental  difference  of  views  be 
tween  them.  The  administration  had  the  Spanish 
treaty  much  at  heart,  and  would  not  permit  the 
recognition  of  the  Spanish  American  republics  to 
complicate  that  transaction.  Clay  wanted  his 
country  to  possess  all  it  could  obtain,  and  as  he 
thought  that  Florida  would  some  time  drop  into 
the  lap  of  the  United  States  in  any  event,  and  as 
the  Spanish  treaty  relinquished  the  claim  to  Texas, 
it  was  from  his  point  of  view  the  correct  thing  to 
hasten  the  recognition  of  the  South  American  re 
publics  and  thereby  to  defeat  the  Spanish  treaty. 

There  was  also  a  great  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  character  of  the  South  American  revolution. 
Adams  gives  in  his  Diary  an  account  of  an  inter 
view  between  him  and  Clay  in  March,  1821,  at 
which  an  interesting  conversation  took  place. 

"  I  regretted  (he  wrote)  the  difference  between  his 
[Clay's]  views  and  those  of  the  administration  upon 
South  American  affairs.  That  the  final  issue  of  their 
present  struggle  would  be  their  entire  independence  of 
Spain  I  had  never  doubted.  That  it  was  our  true  policy 
and  duty  to  take  no  part  in  the  contest  was  equally 
clear.  The  principle  of  neutrality  in  all  foreign  wars 
was,  in  my  opinion,  fundamental  to  the  continuance  of 


170  HENRY  CLAY. 

our  liberties  and  our  Union.  So  far  as  they  were  com 
tending  for  independence  I  wished  well  to  their  cause  ; 
but  I  had  seen,  and  yet  sec,  no  prospect  that  they  would 
establish  free  or  liberal  institutions  of  government. 
They  are  not  likely  to  promote  the  spirit  either  of  free 
dom  or  order  by  their  example.  They  have  not  the 
first  elements  of  free  or  good  government.  Arbitrary 
power,  military  and  ecclesiastical,  was  stamped  upon 
their  education,  upon  their  habits,  and  upon  all  their  in 
stitutions.  Civil  dissension  was  infused  into  all  their 
seminal  principles.  War  and  mutual  destruction  was 
in  every  member  of  their  organization,  moral,  political, 
and  physical.  I  had  little  expectation  of  any  beneficial 
result  to  this  country  from  any  future  connection  with 
them,  political  or  commercial.  We  should  derive  no 
improvement  to  our  own  institutions  by  any  communion 
with  theirs.  Nor  was  there  any  appearance  of  any  dis 
position  in  them  to  take  any  political  lesson  from  us. 
As  to  the  commercial  connection,  there  was  no  basis  for 
much  traffic  between  us.  They  want  none  of  our  pro 
ductions,  and  we  could  afford  to  purchase  very  few  of 
theirs.  Of  these  opinions,  both  his  and  mine,  time  must 
be  the  test." 

This  kind  of  reasoning  appeared  painfully  cold 
by  the  side  of  Clay's  glowing  periods.  But  it  must 
be  confessed  that  Adams's  prognostications  have 
in  the  main  stood  the  test  of  time  far  better  than 
Clay's.  It  seems  that  Clay  then  did  not  command 
sufficient  information  to  answer  such  arguments, 
for  we  find  it  recorded  that  when  Adams  had  fin 
ished  his  lecture,  Clay  "  did  not  pursue  the  discus- 
sion."  Neither  would  he,  at  that  moment,  have 


JN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.   171 

believed  the  prediction,  if  anybody  had  made  it, 
that  only  four  years  later  he  and  Adams,  as  mem 
bers  of  the  same  administration,  would  bear  a  com 
mon  responsibility  and  suffer  the  same  reproach 
for  a  common  policy  friendly  to  the  Spanish 
American  republics. 

At  any  rate  a  popular  vein  had  been  struck  by 
his  speeches  in  behalf  of  a  foreign  people.  But 
he  strengthened  his  reputation  and  political  stand 
ing  more  substantially  by  his  efforts  to  avert  a 
danger  which  threatened  the  disruption  of  his  own 
country. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   MISSOURI    COMPROMISE. 

ON  March  6,  1818,  a  petition  was  presented  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  praying  that  Mis 
souri  be  admitted  as  a  state.  A  bill  authorizing 
the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  state  government 
was  taken  up  in  the  House  on  February  13,  1819, 
and  Tallmadge  of  New  York  moved  as  an  amend 
ment,  that  the  further  introduction  of  slavery 
should  be  prohibited,  and  that  all  children  born 
within  the  said  state  should  be  free  at  the  age  of 
twenty -five  years.  Thus  began  the  struggle  on 
the  slavery  question  in  connection  with  the  admis 
sion  of  Missouri,  which  lasted,  intermittently,  until 
March,  1821. 

No  sooner  had  the  debate  on  Tallmadge's  pro 
position  begun  than  it  became  clear  that  the  philo 
sophical  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  revolution 
ary  period  had  entirely  ceased  to  have  any  influence 
upon  current  thought  in  the  South.  The  aboli 
tion  of  the  foreign  slave  -  trade  had  not,  as  had 
been  hoped,  prepared  the  way  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  or  weakened  the  slave  interest  in  any 
sense.  On  the  contrary,  slavery  had  been  im 
mensely  strengthened  by  an  economic  development 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE.  173 

making  it  more  profitable  than  it  ever  had  been 
before.  The  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  by  Eli 
Whitney  in  1793  had  made  the  culture  of  cotton 
a  very  productive  source  of  wealth.  In  1800 
the  exportation  of  cotton  from  the  United  States 
was  19,000,000  pounds,  valued  at  15,700,000.  In 
1820  the  value  of  the  cotton  export  was  nearly 
$20,000,000,  almost  all  of  it  the  product  of  slave 
labor.  The  value  of  slaves  may  be  said  to  have 
at  least  trebled  in  twenty  years.  The  breeding  of 
slaves  became  a  profitable  industry.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  slave-holders  arrived  at  the  con 
clusion  that  slavery  was  by  no  means  so  wicked 
and  hurtful  an  institution  as  their  revolutionary 
fathers  had  thought  it  to  be.  The  anti-slavery 
professions  of  the  revolutionary  time  became  to 
them  an  awkward  reminiscence,  which  they  would 
have  been  glad  to  wipe  from  their  own  and  other 
people's  memories. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Northern  States  there 
was  no  such  change  of  feeling.  Slavery  was  still, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  believed  to  be  a  wrong  and 
a  sore.  The  change  of  sentiment  in  the  South  had 
not  yet  produced  its  reflex  in  the  North.  The 
slavery  question  had  not  become  a  subject  of  dif 
ference  of  opinion  and  of  controversy  among  the 
Northern  people.  As  they  had  abolished  slavery 
in  their  states,  so  they  took  it  for  granted  that  it 
ought  to  disappear,  and  would  disappear  in  time, 
everywhere  else.  Slavery  had  indeed,  now  and 
then,  asserted  itself  in  the  discussions  of  Congress 


174  HENRY  CLAY. 

as  a  distinct  interest,  but  not  in  such  a  way  as  to 
arouse  much  alarm  in  the  Free  States.  The  amend 
ment  to  the  Missouri  bill,  providing  for  a  restric 
tion  with  regard  to  slavery,  came  therefore  in  a 
perfectly  natural  way  from  that  Northern  senti 
ment  which  remained  still  faithful  to  the  traditions 
of  the  revolutionary  period.  And  it  was  a  great 
surprise  to  most  Northern  people  that  so  natural  a 
proposition  should  be  so  fiercely  resisted  on  the  part 
of  the  South.  It  was  the  sudden  revelation  of  a 
change  of  feeling  in  the  South  which  the  North 
had  not  observed  in  its  progress.  "  The  discus 
sion  of  this  Missouri  question  has  betrayed  the 
secret  of  their  souls,"  wrote  John  Quincy  Adams. 
The  slave-holders  watched  with  apprehension  the 
steady  growth  of  the  Free  States  in  population, 
wealth,  and  power.  In  1790  the  population  of 
the  two  sections  had  been  nearly  even.  In  1820 
there  was  a  difference  of  over  600,000  in  favor  of 
the  North  in  a  total  of  less  than  ten  millions.  In 
1790  the  representation  of  the  two  sections  in 
Congress  had  been  about  evenly  balanced.  In 
1820  the  census  promised  to  give  the  North  a  pre 
ponderance  of  more  than  thirty  votes  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  As  the  slave-holders  had  no 
longer  the  ultimate  extinction,  but  now  the  per 
petuation,  of  slavery  in  view,  the  question  of  sec 
tional  power  became  one  of  first  importance  to 
them,  and  with  it  the  necessity  of  having  more 
Slave  States  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the 
political  equilibrium  at  least  in  the  Senate.  A 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  175 

struggle  for  more  Slave  States  was  to  them  a 
struggle  for  life.  This  was  the  true  significance 
of  the  Missouri  question. 

The  debate  was  the  prototype  of  all  the  slavery 
debates  which  followed  in  the  forty  years  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war.  One  side  offered 
the  constitutional  argument  that  any  restriction  as 
to  slavery  in  the  admission  of  a  new  state  would 
nullify  one  of  the  most  essential  attributes  of  state 
sovereignty  and  break  the  "  Federal  compact ;  "  the 
moral  argument  that  negro  slavery  was  the  most 
beneficial  condition  for  the  colored  race  in  this 
country,  and  for  the  white  race  too,  so  long  as  the 
two  races  must  live  together  ;  and  the  economic 
argument  that  negro  slavery  was  necessary  to  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  Southern  States,  as 
white  men  could  not  work  in  the  cotton  and  rice 
fields.  The  other  side  offered  the  constitutional 
argument  that  slavery  was  not  directly  recognized 
by  the  Constitution  itself ;  that  the  power  of  the 
general  government  to  exclude  slavery  from  the 
territories  had  always  been  recognized,  and  that, 
in  admitting  a  new  state,  conditions  of  admission 
could  be  imposed  upon  it ;  the  moral  argument 
that  slavery  was  a  great  wrong  in  itself,  and  that 
in  its  effects  it  demoralized  the  whites  together 
with  the  blacks  ;  and  the  economic  argument  that, 
wherever  it  went,  it  degraded  labor,  paralyzed 
enterprise  and  progress,  and  greatly  injured  the 
general  interest. 

No  debate  on  slavery  had  ever  so  stirred  the 


176  HENRY  CLAY. 

passions  to  the  point  of  open  defiance.  The  disso« 
lution  of  the  Union,  civil  war,  and  streams  of  blood 
were  freely  threatened  by  Southern  men,  while 
some  anti-slavery  men  declared  themselves  ready  to 
accept  all  these  calamities  rather  than  the  spread 
of  slavery  over  the  territories  yet  free  from  it. 
Neither  was  the  excitement  confined  to  the  halls  of 
Congress.  As  the  reports  of  the  speeches  made 
there  went  over  the  land,  the  people  were  pro 
foundly  astonished  and  alarmed.  The  presence  of 
a  great  danger,  and  a  danger,  too,  springing  from 
an  inherent  antagonism  in  the  institutions  of  the 
country,  suddenly  flashed  upon  their  minds.  They 
experienced  something  like  a  first  violent  shock 
of  earthquake,  making  them  feel  that  the  ground 
under  their  very  feet  was  at  the  mercy  of  volcanic 
forces.  It  is  true,  wise  men  had  foretold  some 
thing  like  this,  but  actual  experience  was  far  more 
impressive  than  the  mere  prediction  had  been. 
Resolutions  earnestly  demanding  the  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  Missouri  were  passed  by  one  after 
another  of  the  Northern  legislatures  except  those 
of  New  England,  where,  however,  the  same  senti 
ment  found  vigorous  expression  in  numerous  me 
morials  from  cities  and  towns.  Of  the  slave-hold 
ing  states,  one,  Delaware,  spoke  through  a  unani 
mous  resolve  of  its  legislature  in  the  same  sense  ; 
and  even  in  Baltimore  a  public  meeting  protested 
against  the  extension  of  slavery.  But  beyond  these 
points  no  anti-slavery  sentiment  made  itself  heard 
in  the  South.  The  legislatures  of  Virginia  and 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  177 

Kentucky  pronounced  loudly  for  the  admission  of 
Missouri  with  slavery,  and  the  Maryland  legisla 
ture  joined  them.  Public  sentiment  in  the  other 
Slave  States  spoke  out  with  equal  emphasis.  Thus 
the  country  found  itself  divided  geographically 
upon  a  question  of  vital  importance. 

On  February  16,  1819,  the  House  of  Eepresen- 
tatives  adopted  the  amendment  restricting  slavery, 
and  thus  passed  the  Missouri  bill.  But  the  Sen 
ate,  eleven  days  afterwards,  struck  out  the  anti- 
slavery  provision  and  sent  the  bill  back  to  the 
House.  A  bill  was  then  passed  organizing  the 
Territory  of  Arkansas,  an  amendment  moved  by 
Taylor  of  New  York  prohibiting  the  further  intro 
duction  of  slavery  there  having  been  voted  down. 
Clay  had  opposed  that  amendment  in  a  speech  and 
thrown  the  casting  vote  of  the  Speaker  adversely 
to  it  on  a  motion  to  reconsider.  Thus  slavery  was 
virtually  fastened  on  Arkansas.  But  the  Mis 
souri  bill  failed  in  the  fifteenth  Congress.  The 
popular  excitement  steadily  increased. 

The  sixteenth  Congress  met  in  December,  1819. 
In  the  Senate  the  admission  of  Missouri  with  slav 
ery  was  coupled  with  the  admission  of  Maine,  on 
the  balance-of-power  principle  that  one  free  state 
and  one  slave  state  should  always  be  admitted  at 
the  same  time.  An  amendment  was  moved  abso 
lutely  prohibiting  slavery  in  Missouri,  but  it  was 
voted  down.  Then  Mr.  Thomas,  a  Senator  from 
Illinois,  on  January  18,  1820,  proposed  that  no  re 
striction  as  to  slavery  be  imposed  upon  Missouri  in 

12 


178  HENRY  CLAY. 

framing  a  state  constitution,  but  that  in  all  the  rest 
of  the  country  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States 
north  of  36°  30',  this  being  the  southern  boundary 
line  of  Missouri,  there  should  be  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude.  This  was  the  essence 
of  the  famous  Missouri  Compromise,  and  after  long 
and  acrimonious  debates  and  several  more  votes  in 
the  House  for  restriction  and  in  the  Senate  against 
it,  this  compromise  was  adopted.  By  it  the  slave 
power  obtained  the  present  tangible  object  it  con 
tended  for  ;  free  labor  won  a  contingent  advantage 
in  the  future.  The  South  was  strongly  bound  to 
gether  by  a  material  interest ;  it  obeyed  a  common 
impulse  and  an  intolerant  will,  presenting  a  solid 
and  determined  front.  The  Northern  anti-slavery 
men  were  held  together,  not  by  a  well  understood 
common  interest,  but  by  a  sentiment ;  and  as  this 
sentiment  was  stronger  or  weaker  in  different  in 
dividuals,  they  would  stand  firm  or  yield  to  the 
entreaties  or  threats  of  the  Southern  men.  Thus 
the  bargain  was  accomplished. 

Clay  has  been  widely  credited  with  being  the 
"  father  "  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  As  to  the 
main  features  of  the  measure  this  credit  he  did 
not  deserve.  So  far  he  had  taken  a  prominent  but 
not  an  originating  part  in  the  transaction.  His 
leadership  in  disposing  of  the  Missouri  question 
belonged  to  a  later  stage  of  the  proceeding.  But 
the  part  he  had  so  far  taken  appeared  to  be  little 
in  accord  with  his  early  anti-slavery  professions. 
The  speeches  he  made  in  the  course  of  these  de» 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  179 

bates,  among  them  one  of  four  hours,  have  never 
been  reported.  But  some  of  the  things  he  said  we 
can  gather  from  the  speeches  of  those  who  replied 
to  him.  Thus  we  find  that  he  most  strenuously 
opposed  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  Missouri, 
and  any  interference  with  it ;  we  find  him  asserting 
that  Congress  had  no  right  whatever  to  prescribe 
conditions  to  newly  organized  states  in  any  way 
restricting  their  "  sovereign  rights  ;  "  we  find  him 
sneering  at  the  advocates  of  slavery-restriction  as 
afflicted  with  "  negrophobia ;  "  we  find  him  pathet 
ically,  in  the  name  of  humanity,  excusing  the  ex 
tension  of  slavery  as  apt  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  negro,  and  advancing  the  argument  that  the 
evils  of  slavery  might  be  cured  by  spreading  it ; 
we  find  him  provoking  a  reply  like  the  following 
from  Taylor  of  New  York  :  — 

"It  [labor]  is  considered  low  and  unfit  for  freemen. 
I  cannot  better  illustrate  this  truth  than  by  referring  to 
a  remark  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky 
[Mr.  Clay].  I  have  often  admired  the  liberality  of  his 
sentiments.  He  is  governed  by  no  vulgar  prejudices  ; 
yet  with  what  abhorrence  did  he  speak  of  the  perform 
ance,  by  your  wives  and  daughters,  of  those  domestic 
offices  which  he  was  pleased  to  call  servile  !  What 
comparison  did  he  make  of  the  "  black  slaves  "  of 
Kentucky  arid  the  "  white  slaves "  of  the  North ; 
and  how  instantly  did  he  strike  a  balance  in  favor 
of  the  condition  of  the  former !  If  such  opinions  and 
expressions,  even  in  the  ardor  of  debate,  can  fall  from 
that  honorable  gentleman,  what  ideas  do  you  suppose 
are  entertained  of  laboring  men  by  the  majority  of 
slave-holders ! " 


180  HENRY   CLAY. 

We  find  him  arguing  that  the  provision  of  the 
Constitution,  "  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  cit 
izens  in  the  several  states,"  would  be  violated  by 
the  restriction  to  be  imposed  on  Missouri  as  to 
slavery. 

The  compromise  as  proposed  he  supported  heart 
ily,  and  when  the  bill  embodying  it  had  passed  we 
find  him  resorting  to  a  very  sharp  and  question 
able  trick  to  save  it  from  further  interference. 
The  bill  passed  on  March  2.  On  the  morning  of 
March  3,  John  Randolph,  having  voted  with  the 
majority,  offered  a  motion  that  the  vote  be  recon 
sidered.  Clay,  as  Speaker,  promptly  ruled  the 
motion  out  of  order  "  until  the  ordinary  business 
of  the  morning,  as  prescribed  by  the  rules  of  the 
House,  should  be  disposed  of."  The  House  went 
on  receiving  and  referring  petitions.  When  peti 
tions  were  called  for  from  the  members  from  Vir 
ginia,  Randolph  moved  "  that  the  House  retain  in 
their  possession  the  Missouri  bill  until  the  period 
should  arrive  when,  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
House,  a  motion  to  reconsider  should  be  in  order." 
Speaker  Clay  "  declared  this  motion  out  of  order 
for  the  reason  assigned  on  the  first  application 
of  Mr.  Randolph  on  this  day."  When  the  morn 
ing  business  was  at  last  disposed  of,  Randolph 
"  moved  the  House  now  to  reconsider  their  vote  of 
yesterday."  Then  Speaker  Clay  —  so  the  record 
runs  — "  having  ascertained  the  fact,  stated  to 
the  House  that  the  proceedings  of  the  House  on 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  181 

that  bill  yesterday  had  been  communicated  to  the 
Senate  by  the  clerk,  and  that,  the  bill  not  being 
in  possession  of  the  House,  the  motion  to  recon 
sider  could  not  be  entertained."  The  bill  had 
been  hurried  up  to  the  Senate  while  Speaker  Clay 
was  ruling  Randolph's  motions  out  of  order.  It  is 
certain  that  a  mere  hint  by  the  Speaker  to  the  clerk 
would  have  kept  the  bill  in  the  House.  It  is  also 
probable,  if  not  certain,  that  the  first  motion  by 
Randolph,  being  heard  by  the  clerk,  would  have 
had  the  same  effect,  had  not  that  official  received 
a  hint  from  the  Speaker,  that  he  desired  the  bill 
to  be  hurried  off,  out  of  Randolph's  reach.  The 
history  of  the  House  probably  records  no  sharper 
trick. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  Clay,  who  at  the  beginning 
of  his  public  life  had  risked  all  his  political  pros 
pects  by  advocating  emancipation  in  Kentucky, 
now  not  only  favored  a  compromise  admitting  a 
new  slave  state  —  some  of  the  sincerest  anti-slav 
ery  men  did  that  —  but  in  doing  so  used  some  of 
the  very  arguments  characteristic  of  those  who  had 
wrorked  themselves  up  to  a  belief  in  slavery  as  a 
blessing  and  endeavored  to  strengthen  and  perpet 
uate  its  rule. 

Were  these  his  real  sentiments?  Clay's  con 
duct  with  regard  to  the  slavery  question  appears 
singularly  inconsistent.  It  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  his  condemnations  of  the  system  of  slavery, 
and  his  professions  of  hope  that  it  would  be  extin 
guished,  were  insincere.  His  feelings  in  this  re- 


182  HENRY  CLAY. 

spect  would  occasionally  burst  out  in  an  unpre 
meditated,  unstudied,  and  unguarded  way,  as  when, 
at  this  same  period,  while  the  Missouri  struggle  was 
going  on  in  all  its  fury,  he  complimented  the  new 
South  American  republics  for  having  emancipated 
their  slaves.  But  the  same  man  would  advocate 
"  with  great  force,"  and  "  in  a  speech  of  consider 
able  length,"  a  bill  to  facilitate  the  catching  of 
"  fugitives  from  justice,  and  persons  escaping  from 
the  service  of  their  masters."  He  would  in  the 
Missouri  struggle  ugo  with  his  section"  in  doing 
what  could  be  done  at  the  time  to  secure  the  foot 
hold  of  slavery  in  new  states,  and  thus  to  facili 
tate  the  growth  of  its  power.  It  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance  at  the  same  time  that  none  of  the 
speeches  he  made  on  the  pro-slavery  side,  although 
they  were  mentioned  in  the  record  of  the  debates, 
were  reported,  even  in  short  outline.  Did  he  sup 
press  them  ?  Did  he  dislike  to  see  such  arguments 
in  print  coupled  with  his  name  ?  We  do  not  know. 
We  shall  find  more  such  puzzles  in  his  career. 

At  the  close  of  the  session  in  May,  1820,  Clay 
announced  to  the  House  that  he  found  himself 
obliged  to  retire  from  public  life  for  some  time. 
He  had  formed  that  resolution  on  account  of  the 
embarrassed  condition  of  his  private  affairs.  He 
had  lost  a  large  sum  of  money  by  indorsing  the 
obligations  of  a  friend,  and  there  was  a  rumor  also, 
whether  true  or  not,  that  he  had  suffered  heavily 
at  play.  At  any  rate,  his  necessities  must  have 
been  pressing,  for  he  strenuously  urged  with  the 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  183 

President  and  the  Secretary  of  State  an  old  claim 
for  a  "  half -outfit,"  $  4,500,  due  him  as  a  commis 
sioner  of  the  United  States  in  negotiating  a  com 
mercial  convention  with  Great  Britain  in  1815. 
He  returned  to  Kentucky  with  the  hope  of  repair 
ing  his  fortunes  by  industrious  application  to  his 
legal  practice ;  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  sixteenth 
Congress  for  its  second  session,  in  November,  1820, 
a  letter  from  him  was  read  to  the  House,  in  which, 
"owing  to  imperious  circumstances,"  he  resigned 
the  office  of  Speaker,  as  he  would  not  be  able  to 
attend  until  after  the  Christmas  holidays.  In  fact 
he  did  not  reach  Washington  until  January  16, 
1821.  Then  his  services  were  urgently  in  demand. 
The  "  Missouri  question,"  which  in  the  previous 
session  seemed  to  have  been  put  to  rest  by  the 
compromise,  had  risen  again  in  a  new,  unexpected, 
and  threatening  form.  The  bill  passed  at  the  last 
session  had  authorized  the  people  of  Missouri  to 
make  a  state  constitution  without  any  restriction 
as  to  slavery.  The  formal  admission  of  the  state 
was  now  to  follow.  But  the  Constitution  with 
which  Missouri  presented  herself  to  Congress  not 
only  recognized  slavery  as  existing  there ;  it  pro 
vided  also  that  it  should  be  the  duty  of  the  legis 
lature  to  pass  such  laws  as  would  be  necessary  to 
prevent  free  negroes  or  mulattoes  from  coming 
into  or  settling  in  the  state.  This  was  more  than 
those  Northern  men  who  accepted  the  compromise 
of  the  last  session  had  bargained  for.  Not  a  few 
of  them,  at  heart  profoundly  dissatisfied  with  what 


184  HENRY  CLAY. 

had  been  done,  and  whose  scruples  had  been  re 
vived  and  strengthened  by  their  contact  with  the 
popular  feeling  at  home,  were  ready  to  seize  upon 
this  obnoxious  clause  in  the  state  Constitution,  to 
reopen  the  whole  question.  A  good  many  South 
ern  men,  too,  disliked  the  compromise,  on  account 
of  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  territory  north 
of  36°  30'.  The  most  prudent  among  them  were 
willing  to  yield  a  point  on  the  questioned  constitu 
tional  clause,  rather  than  put  in  jeopardy  the  solid 
advantage  of  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave 
state.  But  the  bulk  of  them  were  for  insisting 
upon  the  reception  of  the  state  without  further  con 
dition.  A  few  Southern  extremists  still  thought 
of  upsetting  the  36°  30'  restriction.  In  the  Senate, 
Eaton  of  Tennessee  offered  to  the  resolution  ad 
mitting  Missouri  an  amendment  providing  "  that 
nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  construed  as 
to  give  the  assent  of  Congress  to  any  provision  of 
the  Constitution  of  Missouri,  if  any  there  be,  that 
contravenes  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  that '  the  citizens  of  each  state  shall 
be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  in  the  several  states,"  —  the  point  being 
that,  as  free  persons  of  color  were  citizens  in  some 
states,  for  example,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  and 
New  Hampshire,  the  proposed  Constitution  of  Mis 
souri  deprived  them  in  that  state  of  the  privileges 
granted  them  by  the  federal  Constitution.  After 
long  and  acrimonious  debates,  the  resolution  with 
this  amendment  passed  the  Senate,  on  Decembei 
12,  1820,  by  a  majority  of  eight. 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  185 

In  the  House  the  struggle  raged  at  the  same  time. 
On  November  23,  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina  re 
ported  a  resolution  to  admit  Missouri,  taking  the 
ground  that,  as  Congress  at  the  last  session  had 
authorized  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  state 
constitution,  Missouri  had  thereby  been  invested 
with  all  the  rights  and  attributes  of  a  state,  and  all 
those  who  in  good  faith  respected  the  acts  of  the 
government  would  now  vote  for  the  formal  admis 
sion  of  Missouri  as  a  matter  of  course.  This  \vas 
vigorously  combated  by  John  Sergeant  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  a  staunch  opponent  of  slavery,  and  a  man  of 
fine  ability  and  high  character,  whom  we  shall  meet 
again  in  political  companionship  with  Clay  under 
interesting  circumstances.  He  stoutly  maintained 
that  Congress,  when  authorizing  the  people  of  Mis 
souri  to  form  a  constitution,  had  not  parted  with 
the  power  of  looking  into  that  constitution  to  see 
whether  it  conformed  to  the  prescribed  conditions. 
The  debate  then  ranged  again  over  the  whole  sla 
very  question,  growing  hotter  as  it  went  on,  and 
finally  the  resolution  admitting  Missouri  was,  on 
December  13,  rejected  by  a  majority  of  fourteen. 
The  excitement  which  followed  was  intense.  When 
the  vote  was  announced,  Lowndes  rose  and  solemnly 
called  upon  the  House  to  take  measures  for  the  pre 
servation  of  peace  in  Missouri.  The  apprehension 
that  the  fate  of  the  Union  trembled  in  the  balance 
was  again  freely  expressed.  Six  weeks  later,  on 
January  24,  a  resolution  offered  by  Eustis  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  to  admit  Missouri  on  condition  that 


186  HENRY  CLAY. 

she  expunge  from  her  Constitution  the  provision 
discriminating  against  free  persons  of  color,  was 
taken  up  for  consideration.  It  was  voted  down  by 
146  yeas  to  6  nays.  When  the  vote  had  been 
announced,  there  was  a  pause  in  the  proceedings. 
The  deadlock  seemed  complete.  A  feeling  of  help 
lessness  appeared  to  pervade  the  House.  It  was 
then  that  Clay,  who  had  arrived  a  week  before, 
took  the  matter  in  hand.  Breaking  the  silence 
which  prevailed,  he  rose  and  said  that,  if  no  other 
gentleman  made  any  motion  on  the  subject,  "  he 
should  on  the  day  after  to-morrow  move  to  go  into 
committee  of  the  whole  to  take  into  considera 
tion  the  resolution  from  the  Senate  on  the  subject 
of  Missouri." 

He  did  so  on  January  29.  He  declared  himself 
ready  to  vote  for  the  senate  resolution  even  with 
the  proviso  it  contained,  although  he  did  not  deem 
that  proviso  necessary.  The  speeches  he  delivered 
on  this  occasion  were  again  left  unreported,  but 
their  arguments  appear  in  the  replies  they  called 
forth.  Admitting  that  the  clause  in  the  Missouri 
Constitution  respecting  free  persons  of  color  was 
incompatible  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  this  circumstance  could  not,  he  argued,  be 
an  objection  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a 
state  of  the  Union,  because  the  legislators  of  Mis 
souri  would  be  bound  by  their  oaths  to  support  the 
federal  Constitution,  and  would,  therefore,  never 
make  any  law  obnoxious  to  it.  The  weakness  of 
this  argument  did  not  escape  the  attention  of  his 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE.  187 

audience.  But,  he  said,  if  the  Missouri  legisla 
ture  should  enact  any  law  in  pursuance  of  the 
obnoxious  clause  in  their  Constitution,  it  would  be 
declared  void  by  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 
However,  he  added,  a  limitation  or  restriction  upon 
the  power  of  the  legislature  of  Missouri  might  be 
imposed  by  adding  to  the  senate  resolution  a  pro 
vision,  that  no  law  should  be  enacted,  under  the 
obnoxious  clause  of  the  state  Constitution,  affecting 
the  rights  of  citizens  of  other  states.  Thus  he  ar 
gued  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  trying  to  con 
ciliate  the  good-will  of  all,  at  the  same  time  ad 
dressing  to  them  the  most  fervid  appeals  to  unite 
in  a  spirit  of  harmony,  in  order  to  save  the  country 
from  this  dangerous  quarrel  which  threatened  the 
disruption  of  the  Union.  But  the  peacemaker  had 
a  complicated  task  before  him.  In  order  to  unite, 
he  had  to  convince  or  move  men  who  pursued  the 
most  different  objects,  ranging  from  the  absolute 
exclusion  of  new  slave  states  to  the  unconditional 
admission  of  them.  There  were  not  a  few  also 
who  thought  of  postponing  the  whole  subject  to 
the  meeting  of  the  next  Congress.  Several  amend 
ments  to  the  senate  resolution  were  moved,  but  all 
were  voted  down.  Nothing  was  found  on  which 
a  majority  could  be  united.  The  perplexity  and 
excitement  increased.  Then,  as  a  last  expedient, 
Clay  moved  to  refer  the  senate  resolution  to  a 
special  committee  of  thirteen  members.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  Clay  was  put  at  the  head  of  the 
committee. 


188  HENRY  CLAY. 

On  February  10  he  brought  in  a  report,  which 
was  rather  an  appeal  than  an  argument.  "  Your 
committee  believe  that  all  must  ardently  unite  in 
wishing  an  amicable  termination  of  a  question, 
which,  if  it  be  longer  kept  open,  cannot  fail  to 
produce,  and  possibly  to  perpetuate,  prejudices  and 
animosities  among  a  people  to  whom  the  conserva 
tion  of  their  moral  ties  should  be  even  dearer,  if 
possible,  than  that  of  their  political  bond."  The 
committee  then  proposed  a  resolution  to  admit  Mis 
souri  into  the  Union  "  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  states  in  all  respects  whatever,  upon  the 
fundamental  condition  that  the  said  state  shall 
never  pass  any  law  preventing  any  description  of 
persons  from  coming  to  and  settling  in  the  said 
state  who  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  become,  citi 
zens  of  any  of  the  states  of  this  Union."  This 
was  to  satisfy  the  Northern  people.  The  resolu 
tion  provided  further  that,  as  soon  as  the  Missouri 
legislature  should,  by  solemn  public  act,  have  de 
clared  the  assent  of  the  state  to  this  fundamental 
condition,  the  President  should  by  proclamation 
announce  the  fact,  whereupon  the  admission  of  the 
state  should  be  considered  complete.  This  was  to 
prevent  further  trouble  in  Congress.  Finally  the 
resolution  declared  that  nothing  contained  in  it 
should  "  be  construed  to  take  from  the  said  state 
of  Missouri,  when  admitted  into  this  Union,  the 
exercise  of  any  right  or  power  which  can  now  be 
constitutionally  exercised  by  any  of  the  original 
states."  This  was  to  conciliate  the  extreme  state- 


THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE.  189 

sovereignty  men.  "  Thus  consulting  the  opinions 
of  both  sides  of  the  House,"  he  said  in  opening 
the  debate,  "  in  that  spirit  of  compromise  which  is 
occasionally  necessary  to  the  existence  of  all  soci 
eties,  he  hoped  it  would  receive  the  countenance 
of  the  House."  He  concluded  by  "  earnestly  in 
voking  the  spirit  of  harmony  and  kindred  feeling 
to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House  on 
the  subject."  But  this  appeal  still  failed.  After 
a  heated  debate  the  resolution  was  voted  down  in 
committee  of  the  whole  by  a  majority  of  nine,  in 
the  House  by  a  majority  of  three,  and  upon  recon 
sideration  by  a  majority  of  six.  Among  the  yeas 
there  were  but  few  Northern,  among  the  nays  only 
four  Southern  votes,  and  these  were  extremists  of 
the  John  Randolph  type.  This  was  on  February 
13.  There  were  not  many  days  of  the  session 
left.  The  situation  became  more  and  more  critical 
and  threatening. 

On  February  14  the  electoral  vote  was  to  be 
counted,  Monroe  having  in  the  preceding  autumn 
been  reflected  President.  The  people  of  Mis 
souri  had  chosen  electors.  The  question  occurred, 
should  their  votes  be  counted  ?  Some  Southern 
members  hotly  maintained  that  Missouri  was  of 
right  a  state.  Northern  men  asserted  with  equal 
warmth  that  she  was  only  a  territory,  having  no 
right  to  take  part  in  a  presidential  election.  The 
Missouri  quarrel  threatened  to  invade,  and  perhaps 
to  break  up  in  disorder,  the  joint  convention  of 
the  two  Houses  sitting  to  count  the  electoral  vote. 


190  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  danger  was  averted  by  skillful  management. 
Clay  reported,  from  the  joint  committee  to  which 
the  matter  had  been  referred,  a  resolution  "  that, 
if  any  objection  be  made  to  the  votes  of  Missouri, 
and  the  counting  or  omitting  to  count  which  shall 
not  essentially  change  the  result  of  the  election,  — 
in  that  case  they  shall  be  reported  by  the  President 
of  the  Senate  in  the  following  manner  :  Were 
the  votes  of  Missouri  to  be  counted,  the  result 
would  be,  for  A.  B.  for  President  of  the  United 

States, votes;   if    not    counted,   for  A.  B.  as 

President  of  the  United  States, votes ;  but  in 

either  case  A.  B.  is  elected  President :  and  in  the 
same  manner  for  Vice-President."  This  resolution 
was  adopted  and  served  its  purpose.  Fortunately 
the  three  electoral  votes  of  Missouri  were  of  no 
practical  importance,  Monroe  having  received  all 
the  votes  but  one,  and  Tompkins,  for  Vice-Presi 
dent,  a  very  large  majority. 

But  as  soon  as  Missouri  was  reached  in  the 
electoral  count,  objection  was  made  by  a  Northern 
member  to  the  counting  of  her  votes,  on  the 
ground  that  she  was  not  a  state  of  the  Union. 
The  Senate  then  withdrew,  and  the  House  having 
been  called  to  order,  Floyd  of  Virginia  moved  a 
resolution  that  Missouri  was  a  state  of  the  Union, 
and  that  her  vote  should  be  counted.  He  thought 
he  had  now  forced  the  issue,  so  that  it  could 
not  be  avoided.  "  Let  us  know,"  he  exclaimed 
in  closing  his  speech,  "  whether  Missouri  be  a 
state  of  the  Union  or  not.  Sir,  we  cannot  take 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  191 

another  step  without  hurling  this  government  into 
the  gulf  of  destruction.  For  one,  I  say  I  have 
gone  as  far  as  I  can  go  in  the  way  of  compromise ; 
and  if  there  is  to  be  a  compromise  beyond  that 
point,  it  must  be  at  the  edge  of  the  sword."  After 
some  more  speaking  in  a  similar  vein,  mainly  by 
John  Randolph,  Clay  rose  to  pour  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters.  He  calmly  reminded  the  House 
of  the  fact  that  a  resolution  had  been  adopted 
covering  the  treatment  of  the  vote  of  Missouri,  to 
bridge  over  the  very  difficulty  now  presenting  it 
self.  He  therefore  moved  that  Floyd's  resolution 
be  laid  on  the  table,  which  was  done  by  a  large 
majority.  The  Senate  then  was  invited  to  return, 
and  the  counting  of  the  electoral  vote  proceeded  to 
the  end.  When  the  result  was  to  be  announced, 
Randolph  and  Floyd  tried  once  more  to  interpose, 
but  were  ruled  out  of  order ;  the  President  of  the 
Senate  finished  his  announcement,  and  the  act  of 
vote-counting  was  happily  concluded. 

But  after  all  this,  the  Missouri  question  seemed 
to  be  no  nearer  its  solution.  As  the  end  of  the 
session  approached,  the  excitement  rose  and  spread. 
Some  attempts  were  made  in  the  Senate  and  the 
House  to  find  a  basis  of  agreement,  but  without 
avail.  Then,  as  a  last  resort,  Clay  moved  the  ap 
pointment  of  a  committee,  together  with  a  similar 
committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  Senate,  to  con 
sider  and  report  "  whether  it  be  expedient  or  not 
to  make  provision  for  the  admission  of  Missouri 
into  the  Union,  and  for  the  execution  of  the  laws 


192  HENRY  CLAY. 

of  the  United  States  within  Missouri ;  and  if  not, 
whether  any  other  and  what  provision,  adapted  to 
her  condition,  ought  to  be  made  by  law."  This 
was  adopted  by  101  yeas  to  55  nays.  The  com 
mittee  was  to  consist  of  twenty-three  members,  the 
number  of  the  states  then  in  the  Union.  Although 
it  was  to  be  elected  by  ballot,  Clay  was  by  tacit 
consent  permitted  to  draw  up  a  list  to  be  voted  for. 
The  Senate  elected  a  committee  of  seven  to  join 
the  twenty-three  of  the  House.  On  February  28 
Clay  reported  a  resolution,  the  same  in  effect  as 
that  which  he  had  previously  reported  from  his 
committee  of  thirteen,  and  in  introducing  it  he  said 
that  the  committee  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  was 
unanimously  in  its  favor,  and  that  on  the  part  of 
the  House  nearly  so.  After  a  short  debate  the 
resolution  was  adopted  by  86  yeas  to  82  nays. 
The  bulk  of  the  Northern  vote  went  against  it ;  of 
the  Southerners,  only  a  few  extreme  men  under 
Randolph's  lead.  The  resolution  passed  the  Senate 
likewise.  Missouri  promptly  complied  with  the 
fundamental  condition,  and  thus  the  struggle  which 
had  so  violently  agitated  Congress  and  the  country 
came  to  an  end. 

It  was  generally  admitted  that  this  final  accom 
modation  was  mainly  due  to  Clay's  zeal,  persever 
ance,  skill,  and  the  moving  warmth  of  his  personal 
appeals.  He  did  not  confine  himself  to  speeches 
addressed  to  the  House,  but  he  went  from  man  to 
man,  expostulating,  beseeching,  persuading,  in  his 
most  winning  way.  Even  his  opponents  in  de- 


TEE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE.  193 

bate  acknowledged,  involuntarily  sometimes,  the 
impressive  sincerity  of  his  anxious  entreaties. 
What  helped  him  in  gaining  over  the  number  of 
votes  necessary  to  form  a  majority  was  the  grow 
ing  fear  that  this  quarrel  would  break  up  the 
ruling  party,  and  lead  to  the  forming  of  new  divi 
sions.  His  success  added  greatly  to  his  reputation 
and  gave  new  strength  to  his  influence.  Adams 
wrote  in  his  journal  that  one  of  "  the  greatest  re 
sults  of  this  conflict  of  three  sessions  "  was  "  to 
bring  into  full  display  the  talents  and  resources 
and  influence  of  Mr.  Clay."  In  newspapers  and 
speeches  he  was  praised  as  "  the  great  pacificator." 
As  a  measure  of  temporary  pacification  the  com 
promise  could  not  indeed  have  been  more  success 
ful.  Only  a  short  time  before  its  accomplishment 
the  aged  Jefferson,  from  his  retreat  at  Monticello, 
had  sent  forth  a  cry  of  alarm  in  a  private  letter, 
which  soon  became  public  :  "  The  Missouri  question 
is  the  most  portentous  one  that  ever  threatened  the 
Union.  In  the  gloomiest  moments  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  War  I  never  had  any  apprehension  equal 
to  that  I  feel  from  this  source."  No  sooner  had 
the  compromise  passed  than  the  excitement,  and 
anxiety  subsided.  With  that  singular  careless 
ness,  that  elasticity  of  temper,  which  is  character 
istic  of  the  American,  the  danger,  of  which  the 
shock  of  earthquake  had  warned  him,  was  forgot 
ten.  The  public  mind  turned  at  once  to  things  of 
more  hopeful  interest,  and  the  Union  seemed  safer 
than  ever. 

13 


194  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  American  people  have  since  become  pain 
fully  aware  that  this  was  a  delusion ;  and  the  ques 
tion  has  often  been  asked  whether,  in  view  of 
what  came  afterwards,  those  who  accommodated 
the  Missouri  quarrel  really  did  a  good  service  to 
their  country.  It  is  an  interesting  question.  The 
compromise  had  in  fact  settled  only  two  points : 
the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  state ;  and 
the  recognition  of  the  right  of  slavery  to  go,  if  the 
settlers  there  wanted  it,  into  the  territory  belong 
ing  to  the  Louisiana  purchase  south  of  36°  30 '. 
It  was  practically  so  recognized  in  the  newly  or 
ganized  territory  of  Arkansas.  So  far,  the  com 
promise  directly  and  substantially  strengthened 
the  slave  interest.  On  the  other  hand,  the  slave 
interest  had,  in  order  to  secure  these  advantages, 
been  compelled  to  acquiesce  in  two  constitutional 
doctrines  :  that  Congress  had  the  power  to  exclude 
slavery  from  the  territories  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  admission  of  new  states  could  be 
made  subject  to  conditions.  But  these  points, 
especially  the  first  one,  were  yielded  only  for  the 
occasion,  and  might  be  withdrawn  when  the  inter 
ests  of  slavery  should  demand  that  the  territory 
north  of  36°  30'  be  opened  to  its  invasion,  as  act 
ually  happened  some  thirty-four  years  later  in  the 
case  of  Kansas. 

The  compromise  had  another  sinister  feature, 
The  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  the  North,  invoked 
by  the  Missouri  controversy,  was  no  doubt  strong 
and  sincere.  The  South  threatened  the  dissolution 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  195 

of  the  Union ;  and,  frightened  by  that  threat,  a 
sufficient  number  of  Northern  men  were  found 
willing  to  acquiesce,  substantially,  in  the  demands 
of  the  South.  Thus  the  slave  power  learned  the 
weak  spot  in  the  anti-slavery  armor.  It  was  likely 
to  avail  itself  of  that  knowledge,  to  carry  further 
points  by  similar  threats,  and  to  familiarize  itself 
more  and  more  with  the  idea  that  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union  would  really  be  a  royal  remedy  for 
all  its  complaints. 

Would  it  not  have  been  better  statesmanship, 
then,  to  force  the  Missouri  question  to  a  straight 
issue  at  any  risk,  rather  than  compromise  it  ? 

It  was  certain  that  the  final  struggle  between 
slavery  and  free  labor  would  ultimately  come,  and 
also  that  then,  as  slavery  was  an  institution  utterly 
abhorrent  to  the  spirit  of  modern  civilization,  it 
would  at  last  be  overcome  by  that  spirit  and 
perish.  The  danger  was  that  in  its  struggle  for 
life  slavery  might  destroy  the  Union  and  free  in 
stitutions  in  America.  The  question,  therefore, 
which  the  statesmanship  of  the  time  had  to  con 
sider  was,  which  would  be  the  safer  policy,  —  to 
resist  the  demands  of  the  South  at  any  risk,  or  to 
tide  over  the  difficulty  until  it  might  be  fought  out 
under  more  favorable  circumstances  ? 

Had  the  anti-slavery  men  in  Congress,  by  un 
yielding  firmness.,  prevented  the  admission  of  Mis 
souri  as  a  slave  state,  thus  shutting  out  all  pros 
pect  of  slavery  extension,  and  had  the  South 
then  submitted,  without  attempting  the  dissolution 


196  HENRY  CLAY. 

of  the  Union,  the  probability  is  that  the  slave 
power  would  have  lost  hope,  that  emancipation 
movements  would  have  sprung  up  with  renewed 
strength,  and  that  slavery  would  have  gradually 
declined  and  died.  But  would  the  South  in 
1820  have  submitted  without  attempting  dissolu 
tion?  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  it 
would  not.  The  Union  feeling  had  indeed  been 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  war  of  1812,  but  it 
had  not  grown  strong  enough  in  the  South  to  com 
mand  the  self-sacrifice  of  an  interest  which  at  that 
time  was  elated  by  the  anticipation  of  great  wealth 
and  power.  In  New  England  all  there  was  of 
anti-Union  sentiment  had  been  crushed,  but  not  so 
in  the  South.  The  dissolution  of  the  Union  was 
not  then,  in  the  popular  imagination,  such  a  mon 
strous  thing  as  it  is  now.  The  Union  was  still,  in 
some  respects,  regarded  as  an  experiment ;  and 
when  a  great  material  interest  found  itself  placed 
at  a  disadvantage  in  the  Union,  it  was  apt  to  con 
clude  that  the  experiment  had  failed.  To  specu 
late  upon  the  advisability  of  dissolving  the  Union 
did  not  then  appear  to  the  popular  mind  politically 
treasonable  and  morally  heinous. 

That  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  freely 
discussed  among  the  Southern  members  of  the 
Sixteenth  Congress  is  certain.  James  Barbour  of 
Virginia,  a  man  of  very  high  character,  was  re 
ported  to  be  canvassing  the  free-state  members  as 
to  the  practicability  of  a  convention  of  the  states 
to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  to  make  arrangements 


TEE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  197 

for  distributing  its  assets  and  liabilities.  At  one 
period  during  the  Missouri  struggle,  the  Southern 
members  seriously  contemplated  withdrawing  from 
Congress  in  a  body ;  and  John  Randolph,  although 
he  had  not  been  for  some  time  on  speaking  terms 
with  Clay,  one  evening  approached  him,  saying: 
"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  wish  you  would  leave  the  chair. 
I  will  follow  you  to  Kentucky,  or  anywhere  else  in 
the  world."  "  That  is  a  very  serious  proposition," 
answered  Clay,  "  which  we  have  not  now  time  to 
discuss.  But  if  you  will  come  into  the  Speaker's 
room  to-morrow  morning,  before  the  House  as 
sembles,  we  will  discuss  it  together."  They  met. 
Clay  strongly  advised  against  anything  like  seces 
sion,  and  in  favor  of  a  compromise,  while  Ran 
dolph  was  for  immediate  and  decisive  action.  The 
slave-holders,  he  said,  had  the  right  on  their  side ; 
matters  must  come  to  an  extremity,  and  there 
could  be  no  more  suitable  occasion  to  bring  them 
to  that  issue. 

The  secession  of  the  Southern  delegations  from 
Congress  did  indeed  not  come  to  pass  ;  it  was  pre 
vented  by  the  compromise.  But  Clay  himself, 
when  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  gloomily 
expressed  his  apprehension  that  in  a  few  years 
the  Union  would  be  divided  into  three  confeder 
ations,  —  a  Southern,  an  Eastern,  and  a  Western. 

While  thus  the  thought  of  dissolving  the  Union 
occurred  readily  to  the  Southern  mind,  the  thought 
of  maintaining  the  government  and  preserving  the 
Union  by  means  of  force  hardly  occurred  to  any- 


198  HENRY  CLAY. 

body.  It  seemed  to  be  taken  for  granted  on  all 
sides  that,  if  the  Southern  States  insisted  upon  cut 
ting  loose  from  the  Union,  nothing  could  be  done 
but  to  let  them  go.  It  is  true  there  was  talk 
enough  about  swords  and  blood  ;  but  the  wars  were 
expected  to  turn  upon  questions  of  boundary  and 
the  like,  after  dissolution,  not  upon  the  right  of 
states  to  go  out.  Even  such  a  man  as  John  Quincy 
Adams,  not  only  an  anti-slavery  man  but  a  states 
man  always  inclining  to  strong  measures,  approved 
of  the  compromise  as  "  all  that  could  be  effected 
under  the  present  Constitution,  and  from  extreme 
unwillingness  to  put  the  Union  at  hazard ; "  and 
then  wrote  in  addition :  "  But  perhaps  it  would 
have  been  a  wiser  as  well  as  a  bolder  course  to 
have  persisted  in  the  restriction  upon  Missouri,  till 
it  should  have  terminated  in  a  convention  of  the 
states  to  revise  and  amend  the  Constitution.  This 
would  have  produced  a  new  Union  of  thirteen  or 
fourteen  states  unpolluted  with  slavery,  with  a 
great  and  glorious  object  to  effect,  —  namely,  that 
of  rallying  to  their  standard  the  other  states  by 
the  universal  emancipation  of  their  slaves.  If  the 
Union  must  be  dissolved,  slavery  is  precisely  the 
question  upon  which  it  ought  to  break."  Thus 
even  this  patriotic  statesman  thought  rather  of 
separating  in  order  to  meet  again  in  a  purer  con 
dition  of  existence  —  a  remarkably  fantastic  plan 
• —  than  of  denying  the  right  of  secession,  and  of 
maintaining  by  a  vigorous  exertion  of  power  the 
government  of  which  he  was  a  leading  member, 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  199 

and  the  Union  of  which  his  father  had  been  one 
of  the  principal  founders.  It  must  be  admitted 
also  that,  while  the  North  was  superior  to  the  South 
in  population  and  means  at  that  period,  yet  the 
disproportion  was  not  yet  large  enough  to  make 
the  maintenance  of  the  Union  by  force  a  promis 
ing  task. 

An  attempt  by  the  South,  or  by  the  larger  part 
of  it,  to  dissolve  the  Union  would  therefore,  at  that 
time,  have  been  likely  to  succeed.  There  would 
probably  have  been  no  armed  collision  about  the 
dissolution  itself,  but  a  prospect  of  complicated 
quarrels  and  wars  afterwards  about  the  property 
formerly  held  in  common,  and  perhaps  about  other 
matters  of  disagreement.  A  reunion  might  pos 
sibly  have  followed  after  a  sad  experience  of  sepa 
ration.  But  that  result  would  have  had  to  be 
evolved  from  long  and  confused  conflicts,  and  the 
future  would  at  best  have  been  dark  and  uncer 
tain.  Even  in  the  event  of  reunion,  the  fatal 
principle  of  secession  at  will,  once  recognized, 
would  have  passed  into  the  new  arrangement. 

In  view  of  all  this,  it  seemed  good  statesmanship 
to  hold  the  Union  together  by  a  compromise,  and 
to  adjourn  the  final  and  decisive  struggle  on  the 
slavery  question  to  a  time  when  the  Union  feeling 
should  be  strong  and  determined  enough  to  main 
tain  the  integrity  of  the  Republic,  if  necessary,  by 
force  of  arms,  and  when  the  Free  States  should  be 
so  superior  in  men  and  means  to  the  slave-holding 
section  as  to  make  the  result  certain. 


200  HENRY  CLAY. 

That  this  train  of  reasoning  was  Clay's  conscious 
motive  in  doing  what  he  did  will  not  be  asserted. 
It  is  more  likely  that  he  simply  followed  his  instinct 
as  a  devoted  friend  of  the  Union,  leaving  for  the 
moment  all  other  interests  out  of  view.  Although 
he  had  not  originated  the  main  part  of  the  com 
promise,  having  exercised  decisive  influence  only 
at  the  close  of  the  controversy,  yet,  by  common 
consent,  he  carried  off  the  honors  of  the  occasion. 
As  the  peculiar  brilliancy  of  the  abilities  he  pos 
sessed,  his  involuntary  showiness,  made  him  always 
the  most  conspicuous  figure  whenever  he  appeared 
in  a  parliamentary  contest,  so  he  had  impressed 
himself  in  this  instance  upon  the  popular  mind  as 
the  leading  actor  in  the  drama.  He  retired,  there 
fore,  to  private  life  with  a  larger  stock  of  popular 
ity  than  he  had  ever  possessed.  What  he  had  lost 
by  the  appearance  of  captiousness  in  his  opposition 
to  Monroe's  administration  was  now  amply  re 
trieved  by  the  great  patriotic  service  rendered  in 
bringing  a  very  dangerous  controversy  to  what  was 
considered  a  happy  conclusion.  It  is  interesting 
to  hear  the  judgment  passed  upon  him  at  that  pe 
riod  by  another  public  man  of  high  distinction. 
After  a  visit  he  had  received  from  Clay,  John 
Quiney  Adams  delivered  himself  in  his  Diary  as 
follows :  — 

"  Clay  is  an  eloquent  man,  with  very  popular  man 
ners  and  great  political  management.  He  is,  like  almost 
all  the  eminent  men  of  this  country,  only  half  educated. 
His  school  has  been  the  world,  and  in  that  he  is  profi- 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  201 

cient.  His  morals,  public  and  private,  are  loose,  but  he 
has  all  the  virtues  indispensable  to  a  popular  man.  As 
he  is  the  first  distinguished  man  that  the  Western  coun 
try  has  presented  as  a  statesman  to  the  Union,  they  are 
profoundly  proud  of  him.  Clay's  temper  is  impetuous 
and  his  ambition  impatient.  He  has  long  since  marked 
me  as  the  principal  rival  in  his  way,  and  has  taken  no 
more  pains  to  disguise  his  hostility  than  was  necessary 
for  decorum,  and  to  avoid  shocking  the  public  opinion. 
His  future  fortunes  and  mine  are  in  wiser  hands  than 
ours.  I  have  never  even  defensively  repelled  his 
attacks.  Clay  has  large  and  liberal  views  of  public 
affairs,  and  that  sort  of  generosity  which  attaches  indi 
viduals  to  his  person.  As  President  of  the  Union,  his 
administration  would  be  a  perpetual  succession  of  in 
trigue  and  management  with  the  legislature.  It  would 
also  be  sectional  in  its  spirit,  and  sacrifice  all  interests 
to  those  of  the  Western  country  and  the  slave-holders. 
But  his  principles  relative  to  internal  improvements 
would  produce  results  honorable  and  useful  to  the 
nation." 

This  was  not  the  judgment  of  a  friend,  but  of  a 
man  always  inclined  to  be  censorious,  and,  when 
stung  by  conflicts  of  opinion,  uncharitable.  It  was 
the  judgment,  too,  of  a  rival  in  the  race  for  the 
presidency,  —  a  rival  careful  to  admit  to  himself 
the  strong  qualities  of  the  adversary,  while  dwell 
ing  with  some  satisfaction  upon  his  weak  points. 
When  speaking  of  Clay's  "  loose  "  public  morals, 
Adams  can  have  meant  only  the  apparently  factious 
opposition  to  Monroe's  administration,  and  his  re 
sort  to  tricky  expedients  in  carrying  his  points  in 


202  HENRY  CLAY. 

the  House.  He  cannot  have  meant  anything  like 
the  use  of  official  power  and  opportunities  for  pri 
vate  pecuniary  advantage,  for  in  this  respect  Clay's 
character  was  and  remained  above  reproach.  No 
species  of  corruption  stained  his  name.  Neither 
could  Clay  be  justly  charged  with  a  sectional 
spirit.  His  feelings  were,  on  the  contrary,  as 
largely  and  thoroughly  national  as  those  of  any 
statesman  of  his  time.  Although  he  had  at  first 
spoken  the  language  of  the  slave-holder  in  the  Mis 
souri  debate,  it  could  certainly  not  be  said  that  he 
was  willing  to  "  sacrifice  all  interests  to  those  of 

o 

the  slave-holders."  He  would  have  stood  by  the 
Union  against  them  at  all  hazards,  and  his  tariff 
and  internal  improvement  policy  soon  became  ob 
noxious  to  them.  But,  barring  these  points,  Ad 
ams's  judgment  was  not  far  astray.  In  the  course 
of  this  narration  we  shall  find  more  opinions  of 
Adams  on  Clay,  expressed  at  a  time  when  the  two 
men  had  learned  to  understand  each  other  better. 

When  Clay  left  Washington,  his  professional 
prospects  were  very  promising.  The  Bank  of  the 
United  States  engaged  him,  upon  liberal  terms,  as 
its  standing  counsel  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky.  He 
expected  his  practice  to  retrieve  his  fortunes  in 
three  or  four  years,  and  to  enable  him  then  to 
return  to  the  service  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CANDIDATE    FOR    THE   PEESIDENCY. 

CLAY'S  retirement  was  not  of  long  duration. 
The  people  of  Kentucky  were  then  passing  through 
the  last  stages  of  a  confused  excitement  caused  by 
a  popular  delusion  that  riches  can  be  created  and 
happiness  acquired  by  a  plentiful  issue  of  paper 
money  and  an  artificial  inflation  of  prices.  The 
consequence  was  what  it  always  is.  The  more 
plenty  the  paper  money  became,  the  more  people 
ran  into  debt.  They  then  sought  "  relief  "  by  leg 
islative  contrivances  in  favor  of  debtors,  which 
caused  a  political  division  into  the  "relief"  and 
the  "  anti-relief  "  parties.  The  "  relief  measures  " 
came  before  the  highest  state  court,  which  declared 
them  unconstitutional ;  whereupon  the  court  was 
abolished  and  a  new  one  created,  and  this  brought 
forth  the  "old  court"  and  the  "new  court"  parties 
in  Kentucky.  The  whole  story  is  told  with  admir 
able  clearness  in  Professor  Sunmer's  biography  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  In  these  fierce  controversies, 
Clay  took  position  as  an  advocate  of  good  sense, 
honesty,  and  sound  principles  of  finance,  some 
times  against  a  current  of  popular  feeling  which 
seemed  to  be  overwhelming.  He  made  enemies 


204  HENRY  CLAY. 

in  that  way  from  whom  he  was  to  hear  in  later 
years;  but,  on  the  whole,  his  popularity  weathered 
the  storrn.  Without  opposition,  he  was  elected  to 
represent  his  faithful  Lexington  district  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  eighteenth  Con 
gress,  which  met  on  the  first  Monday  in  December, 
1823.  During  his  absence  from  the  House  there 
had  been  contest  enough  about  the  speakership- 
But  as  soon  as  he  appeared  again,  an  overwhelm 
ing  majority  of  the  members  gathered  around  him, 
and  he  was  elected  Speaker  by  139  to  42,  the 
minority  voting  for  Philip  P.  Barbour  of  Virginia, 
who  had  been  Speaker  during  the  seventeenth 
Congress. 

This  was  the  session  preceding  the  presidential 
election  of  1824,  and  Clay  was  a  confessed  candi 
date  for  the  succession  to  Monroe.  His  friends  in 
Kentucky  —  or,  as  many  would  have  it,  the  people 
of  Kentucky  —  were  warm  and  loud  in  their  ad 
vocacy  of  his  "claims."  His  achievement  as  "the 
great  pacificator"  had  much  increased  his  popu 
larity  in  other  states.  His  conduct  in  the  House 
was  likely  to  have  some  effect  upon  his  chances, 
and  to  be  observed  with  extraordinary  interest* 
The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  take  the  unpopular 
side  of  a  question  appealing  in  an  unusual  degree 
to  patriotic  emotion  and  human  sympathy.  He 
opposed  a  bill  granting  a  pension  to  the  mother  of 
Commodore  Perry,  the  hero  of  Lake  Erie.  The 
death  of  her  illustrious  son  had  left  the  old  matron 
in  needy  circumstances.  The  debate  ran  largely 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          205 

upon  the  great  services  rendered  to  the  country  by 
Commodore  Perry  in  the  days  of  great  public  dan 
ger  and  distress ;  and,  by  way  of  contrast,  on  the 
sorrows  and  cares  of  the  bereft  mother.  The  elo 
quence  expended  upon  these  points  had  been  formi 
dable,  threatening  with  the  contempt  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  those  who  dared  to  "  go  back  to  their 
constituents  "  to  tell  them  "  that  they  had  turned 
from  their  door,  in  the  evening  of  a  long  life,  the 
aged  and  venerable  mother  of  the  gallant  Perry, 
and  doomed  her  to  the  charity  of  the  world."  It 
looked  like  a  serious  matter  for  any  presidential 
candidate  who  naturally  desired  to  be  popular  with 
people  of  tender  sensibilities  and  patriotic  feelings, 
and  who  had  also  to  look  after  the  soldier  and  sailor 
vote.  Of  this  aspect  of  the  case,  however,  Clay  did 
not  seem  to  think.  He  calmly  argued  that  this 
case,  however  great  the  sympathy  it  deserved,  did 
not  fall  within  the  principles  of  the  pension  laws, 
since  Commodore  Perry  had  not  died  of  injuries 
received  in  the  service  ;  that  the  principle  of  the 
law  had  already  been  overstepped  in  granting  a 
pension  to  his  widow  and  children ;  that  there  must 
be  a  limit  to  gratitude  at  the  public  expense  for 
military  and  naval  service ;  that  he  saw  no  reason 
why  the  services  of  the  warrior  should  be  held  in  so 
much  higher  esteem  than  the  sometimes  even  more 
valuable  services  of  the  civil  officer  of  the  Repub 
lic,  and  so  on.  His  apprehension  concerning  the 
superiority  in  popular  favor  of  military  glory  over 
civil  merit,  he  was  to  find  strikingly  confirmed  by 


206  HENRY  CLAY. 

his  own  experience.  Evidently  this  candidate  for 
the  presidency  still  had  opinions  of  his  own  and 
courage  to  express  them.  It  was  not  by  the  small 
tricks  of  the  demagogue,  but  rather  by  a  strong 
advocacy  of  the  policies  he  believed  in,  that  he 
hoped  to  commend  himself  to  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  So  we  find  him  soon  engaged  in  a  hot 
debate  on  internal  improvements. 

In  May,  1822,  Monroe  had  vetoed  a  bill  to  estab 
lish  tollgates  on  the  Cumberland  Road,  and  on  the 
same  occasion  submitted  to  Congress  an  elaborate 
statement  supporting  his  belief  that  the  practical 
execution  of  works  of  internal  improvement  by  the 
general  government  was  unwarranted  by  the  Con 
stitution,  admitting  however  the  power  of  Congress 
under  the  Constitution  to  grant  and  appropriate 
money  in  aid  of  works  of  internal  improvement  to 
be  executed  by  others.  In  January,  1824,  a  bill 
was  reported  authorizing  the  President  to  cause  the 
necessary  surveys,  plans,  and  estimates  to  be  made 
for  such  a  system  of  roads  and  canals  as  he  might 
deem  of  national  importance  in  a  postal,  commer 
cial,  or  military  point  of  view.  For  this  purpose 
the  bill  proposed  an  appropriation  of  $30,000. 
The  debate  turned  mainly  on  the  point  of  constitu 
tional  power,  and  in  his  most  dashing  style  Clay 
attacked  Monroe's  constitutional  doctrines,  stop 
ping  but  little  short  of  ridicule,  and  pronounced 
himself  again  in  favor  of  the  most  liberal  con 
struction  of  the  fundamental  law.  In  the  power 
"  to  establish "  post  roads,  he  easily  found  the 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          207 

power  to  build  roads  and  to  keep  them  in  repair. 
The  power  to  "  regulate  commerce  among  the  sev 
eral  states  "  had  to  his  mind  little  meaning,  if  it 
did  not  imply  "  authority  to  foster  "  inter  -  state 
commerce,  "  to  promote  it,  to  bestow  on  it  facilities 
similar  to  those  which  had  been  conceded  to  our 
foreign  trade."  To  him,  this  involved  unquestion 
ably  the  power  to  build  canals.  "  All  the  powers 
of  this  government,"  he  argued,  "  should  be  inter 
preted  in  reference  to  its  first,  its  best,  its  greatest 
object,  the  Union  of  these  states.  And  is  not  that 
Union  best  invigorated  by  an  intimate  social  and 
commercial  connection  between  all  the  parts  of  the 
confederacy?"  He  described  the  unsatisfied  needs 
of  the  great  West  in  stirring  terms,  and  then 
opened  once  more  that  glorious  perspective  of  the 
great  ocean-bound  Republic  which  his  ardent  mind 
was  so  fond  of  contemplating.  "  Sir,"  he  ex 
claimed,  "  it  is  a  subject  of  peculiar  delight  to  me 
to  look  forward  to  the  proud  and  happy  period, 
distant  as  it  may  be,  when  circulation  and  associa 
tion  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  and  the 
Mexican  Gulf  shall  be  as  free  and  perfect  as  they 
are  at  this  moment  in  England,  and  in  any  other, 
the  most  highly  improved  country  on  the  globe. 
Sir,  a  new  world  has  come  into  being  since  the 
Constitution  was  adopted.  Are  the  narrow,  limited 
necessities  of  the  old  thirteen  States,  indeed  of 
parts  only  of  the  old  thirteen  States  as  they  existed 
at  the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  forever  to  re 
main  a  rule  of  its  interpretation  ?  Are  we  to  for- 


208  HENRY   CLAY. 

get  the  wants  of  our  country  ?  Are  we  to  neglect 
and  refuse  the  redemption  of  that  vast  wilderness 
which  once  stretched  unbroken  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghany  ?  I  hope  for  better  and  nobler  things  !  " 

These  were  captivating  appeals,  but  they  in 
volved  the  largest  of  latitudinarian  doctrines,  — 
namely,  that  the  powers  granted  by  the  Constitu 
tion  must  grow  with  the  size  of  the  country.  The 
bill  passed  the  House  by  a  handsome  majority ;  it 
passed  the  Senate  too,  and  Monroe  signed  it  on 
the  ground  that  it  provided  merely  for  the  collec 
tion  of  information.  It  resulted  in  nothing  beyond 
the  making  of  surveys  for  some  roads  and  canals. 
However,  Clay  had  on  the  occasion  of  this  debate 
not  only  put  the  internal-improvement  part  of  his 
programme  once  more  in  the  strongest  form  be 
fore  Congress  and  the  people,  but  he  had  also  man 
aged  to  revive  the  memory  of  his  opposition  to  the 
Monroe  administration. 

Next  came  a  plunge  into  the  domain  of  foreign 
politics.  The  rising  of  the  Greeks  against  the 
Turks  was  at  that  time  occupying  the  attention 
of  civilized  mankind.  The  Philhellenic  fever,  fed 
partly  by  a  genuine  sympathy  with  a  nation  fight 
ing  for  its  freedom,  partly  by  a  classical  interest 
in  the  country  of  Leonid  as,  Phidias,  and  Plato, 
swept  over  all  Europe  and  America  alike.  In  the 
United  States  meetings  were  held,  speeches  made, 
and  resolutions  passed,  boiling  over  with  enthusi 
asm  for  the  struggling  Greeks.  It  is  curious  to 
find  even  the  cool-headed  Gallatin,  at  that  period 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          209 

Minister  of  the  United  States  in  Paris,  proposing 
in  a  despatch  ("  as  if  he  was  serious,"  writes 
Adams)  that  the  government  of  the  United  States 
should  assist  the  Greeks  with  its  naval  force  then 
in  the  Mediterranean.  Monroe  expressed  his  sym 
pathy  with  the  Greeks  in  his  message ;  and  Daniel 
Webster,  in  January,  1824,  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  presented  a  resolution  to  provide  for 
the  sending  of  an  agent  or  commissioner  to  Greece, 
whenever  the  President  should  find  it  expedient. 
This  resolution  he  introduced  by  a  speech  not  only 
eulogizing  the  Greek  cause,  but  also  gravely  and 
elaborately  arraigning  the  "  Holy  Alliance "  as  a 
league  of  despotic  governments  against  all  popular 
aspirations  towards  constitutional  liberty. 

A  nation  fighting  for  its  freedom  naturally  called 
Clay  to  the  front.  He  not  only  supported  Web 
ster's  motion,  but  remembering  that  the  "  Holy 
Alliance,"  while  it  hung  like  a  dark  cloud  over 
Europe,  also  threatened  to  cast  its  shadow  upon 
these  shores,  he  flung  down  the  gauntlet  by  offer 
ing  a  resolution  of  his  own  to  be  called  up  at  some 
future  time.  It  declared  that  the  American  peo 
ple  "  would  not  see  without  serious  inquietude  any 
forcible  interposition  of  the  allied  powers  of  Eu 
rope  in  behalf  of  Spain,  to  reduce  to  their  former 
subjection  those  parts  of  America  which  have  pro 
claimed  and  established  for  themselves,  respect 
ively,  independent  governments,  and  which  have 
been  solemnly  recognized  by  the  United  States." 

This  was  essentially  in  the  spirit  of  the  utter- 

14 


210  HENRY   CLAY. 

ances  which  had  appeared  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  in  Monroe's  message  to  Congress,  and 
which  have  since  become  celebrated  as  the  Mon 
roe  doctrine.  The  message  had  been  even  a  little 
stronger  in  language.  Referring  to  the  difference 
existing  between  the  political  system  of  the  "  allied 
powers  "  in  Europe,  and  that  of  the  American  re 
publics,  it  declared  that  "  we  should  consider  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace 
and  safety."  Further,  with  regard  to  schemes  sup 
posed  to  be  contemplated  by  the  allied  powers,  for 
interfering  with  the  independence  of  the  newly  es 
tablished  Spanish  American  republics,  it  said  that 
the  American  people  could  not  view  such  interpo 
sition  "in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifes 
tation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the 
United  States."  Here,  then,  Clay  found  himself 
in  thorough  accord  with  the  Monroe  administra 
tion,  whose  master  spirit  in  all  that  concerned 
foreign  affairs  was  John  Quincy  Adams.  More 
over,  although  his  resolution  did  not  touch  it, 
Clay  certainly  agreed  with  the  other  point  of  the 
Monroe  doctrine,  "  that  the  American  continents, 
by  the  free  and  independent  condition  which  they 
have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  henceforth  not  to 
be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization  by 
any  European  power." 

But  when  he  thrust  his  resolution  into  the  de 
bate  on  the  Greek  question,  though  with  no  inten- 
tion  of  having  it  discussed  immediately,  there  was 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          211 

an  evident  flutter  in  the  House.  It  was  darkly, 
shyly  hinted  at  in  several  speeches  as  something 
"extraordinary,"  something  peculiarly  calculated 
to  involve  the  United  States  in  dangerous  compli 
cations  with  foreign  powers.  The  consequence  was 
that  Clay,  irritated,  broke  out  with  a  speech  full 
of  fire  but  rather  loose  in  argument.  He  predicted 
that  a  "  tremendous  storm  was  ready  to  burst  upon 
our  happy  country,"  meaning  a  design  on  the  part 
of  the  "  Holy  Alliance"  to  subvert  free  institutions 
in  America  ;  he  denounced  as  "  low  and  debased  " 
those  who  did  not  "  dare  "  to  express  their  sympa 
thies  with  suffering  Greece  ;  and  finally  he  defied 
them  to  go  home,  if  they  "  dared,"  to  their  constit 
uents,  to  tell  them  that  their  representatives  had 
"  shrunk  from  the  declaration  of  their  own  senti 
ments,"  just  as  he  had  been  "  dared  "  when  oppos 
ing  the  pension  to  Commodore  Perry's  mother. 

Some  members  of  the  House  resented  such  lan 
guage,  and  a  bitter  altercation  followed,  especially 
undesirable  in  the  case  of  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  Indeed,  ambitious  statesmen  gifted 
with  oratorical  temperaments,  whose  perorations 
are  apt  to  run  away  with  their  judgment,  may 
study  this  debate  with  profit,  to  observe  some 
things  which  it  is  well  to  avoid.  Richard  M. 
Johnson  of  Kentucky,  at  the  time  one  of  Clay's 
most  ardent  friends  and  backers  for  the  presidency, 
dolefully  remarked  after  this  debate  that  "  Clay 
was  the  most  imprudent  man  in  the  world." 

The  resolution  on  the   Greek  cause  was  never 


212  HENRY   CLAY. 

acted  upon,  and  Clay's  resolution  concerning  the 
Spanish  American  republics  never  called  up.  We 
shall  see  him  return  to  that  subject  as  the  head  of 
the  department  of  foreign  affairs  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States. 

Clay's  most  important  oratorical  effort  at  this 
session,  and  indeed  one  of  the  most  important  of 
his  life,  was  brought  forth  by  a  debate  on  the 
tariff.  The  country  had  gone  through  trying  ex 
periences  during  the  last  eight  years.  As  we  re 
member,  the  tariff  of  1816  had  been  enacted  to 
ward  off  the  flood  of  cheap  English  goods  which, 
immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812, 
were  pouring  into  the  country  and  underselling 
American  fabrics.  That  object,  however,  was  not 
accomplished,  except  in  the  case  of  cheap  cotton 
goods,  which  had  the  advantage  of  a  "  minimum  " 
provision :  that  all  cotton  fabrics  invoiced  at  less 
than  twenty-five  cents  should  be  taken  to  have 
cost  that  price  at  the  place  of  exportation,  and 
should  be  taxed  accordingly.  The  tariff  did  not 
prevent  the  reaction  naturally  following  the  abnor 
mally  stimulated  business  and  the  inflated  values 
of  war  times.  When  prices  rose,  people  ran  into 
debt  in  the  hope  of  a  still  greater  rise.  Those 
who  made  money  became  accustomed  to  more  ex 
pensive  living.  With  the  return  of  peace,  the 
expenditures  of  the  government  were  contracted. 
There  was  less  demand  for  breadstuffs.  Then 
came  currency  troubles.  The  return  to  specie 
payments  in  England,  and  the  raising  of  the 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          213 

Frencli  indemnity,  created  an  unusual  demand  for 
the  precious  metals  in  Europe,  which  rendered 
more  difficult  the  reestablishment  of  specie  pay 
ments  in  America.  The  notes  of  the  state  banks 
outside  of  New  England  were  depreciated,  and 
these  banks  resisted  the  efforts  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  toward  general  resumption.  A 
great  tightness  of  money  ensued.  Times  became 
pinching.  Prices, went  down.  A  crisis  broke  out 
in  1819.  Many  business  failures  followed.  The 
necessity  of  returning  to  more  frugal  ways  of  liv 
ing  was  painfully  felt.  "  Cheap  money  "  theories 
sprung  up.  The  distress  was  greatest  where  the 
local  bank  currency  was  most  uncertain  in  its 
value.  The  manufacturing  interest  suffered  heav 
ily,  but  the  difficulties  under  which  it  labored  were 
only  a  part  of  those  troubles  always  occurring  when 
the  business  enterprise  of  a  country  has,  by  abnor 
mal  circumstances  or  artificial  means,  been  over- 
stimulated  in  certain  directions,  and  then  has  to 
accommodate  itself  to  entirely  different  conditions. 
The  process  of  natural  recuperation  had,  however, 
already  begun,  and  that  too  on  a  solid  basis,  after 
the  elimination  of  the  unsound  elements  of  busi 
ness.  But  the  cry  for  "  relief  "  was  still  kept  up, 
and  a  demand  for  "  more  protection  "  arose. 

In  1818  the  duty  on  iron  was  raised.  In  1820 
an  attempt  was  made,  and  supported  by  Clay  in 
an  eloquent  speech,  for  a  general  revision  of  the 
tariff,  with  a  view  to  higher  rates.  The  bill  passed 
the  House,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  Now,  in 


214  HENRY  CLAY. 

January,  1824,  the  Committee  on  Manufactures 
reported  to  the  House  a  bill  which,  in  the  way 
of  protecting  the  manufacturing  industries,  was  to 
accomplish  what  the  tariff  of  1816  had  so  signally 
failed  to  do.  The  duties  proposed  were  :  1,  on 
articles  the  importation  of  which  would  not  inter 
fere  with  home  manufactures,  such  as  silks,  linens, 
cutlery,  spices,  and  some  others,  these  being  mere 
revenue  duties  ;  and  2,  on  iron,  hemp,  glass,  lead, 
wool  and  woolen  goods,  cotton  goods,  etc.,  these 
being  high  protective  duties. 

Clay  soon  assumed  the  championship  of  the  bill 
in  committee  of  the  whole.  The  debate  began 
with  a  skirmish  on  details;  but  then  the  friends  of 
the  bill  forced  a  discussion  on  its  general  principles, 
which  lasted  two  months.  This  gave  Clay  one  of 
his  great  opportunities.  He  was  now  no  longer 
the  Kentucky  farmer  pleading  for  hemp  and  home 
spun,  nor  the  cautious  citizen  anxious  to  have  his 
country  make  its  own  clothes  and  blankets  in  time 
of  war.  He  had  developed  into  the  full-blown 
protectionist,  intent  upon  using  the  power  of  the 
government,  so  far  as  it  would  go,  to  multiply  and 
foster  manufactures,  not  with  commerce,  but  rather 
in  preference  to  commerce.  His  speech,  one  of 
the  most  elaborate  and  effective  he  ever  made,  pre 
sented  in  brilliant  array  the  arguments  which  were 
current  among  high-tariff  men  then,  and  which  re 
main  so  still.  He  opened  with  a  harrowing  de 
scription  of  the  prevailing  distress,  and  among  the 
most  significant  symptoms  of  the  dreadful  condition 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          215 

of  things  he  counted  "  the  ravenous  pursuit  after 
public  situations,  not  for  the  sake  of  their  honors 
and  the  performance  of  their  public  duties,  but  as 
a  means  of  private  subsistence."  "The  pulse  of  in 
cumbents,"  he  said  in  his  picturesque  style,  "  who 
happen  to  be  taken  ill,  is  not  marked  with  more 
anxiety  by  the  attending  physicians  than  by  those 
who  desire  to  succeed  them,  though  with  very 
opposite  feelings."  (To  "  make  room "  for  one 
man  simply  by  removing  another  was  at  that  time 
not  yet  readily  thought  of.)  The  cause  of  the 
prevailing  distress  he  found  in  the  dependence  of 
this  country  on  the  foreign  market,  which  was  at 
the  mercy  of  foreign  interests,  and  which  might 
for  an  indefinite  time  be  unable  to  absorb  our 
surplus  of  agricultural  products ;  and  in  too  great 
a  dependence  on  foreign  sources  of  supply.  It 
seemed  to  him  necessary  to  provide  a  home  mar 
ket  for  our  products,  the  superiority  of  which 
would  consist  in  its  greater  steadiness,  in  the  cre 
ation  of  reciprocal  interests,  in  greater  security, 
and  in  an  ultimate  increase  of  consumption,  and 
consequently  of  comfort,  owing  to  an  increased 
quantity  of  the  product,  and  a  reduction  of  prices 
by  home  competition.  To  this  end  the  develop 
ment  of  manufacturing  industries  was  required, 
which  could  not  be  accomplished  without  high 
protective,  in  some  cases  not  without  prohibitory, 
tariff  duties.  No  country  had  ever  flourished  with 
out  such  a  policy,  and  England  especially  was  a 
shining  example  of  its  wisdom.  British  statesman- 


216  HENRY  CLAY. 

ship  had  therefore  strictly  adhered  to  it.  A  mem. 
ber  of  Parliament  remonstrating  against  the  pas 
sage  of  the  corn-laws  in  favor  of  foreign  production 
would,  he  thought,  make  a  poor  figure. 

This  policy  Clay  now  christened  "  the  American 
system."  The  opposite  policy  he  denounced  as 
"  the  foreign  policy."  He  then  reviewed  elab 
orately  one  after  another  the  objections  urged 
against  the  "  American  system,"  and  closed  with  a 
glowing  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  planting  states 
to  submit  to  the  temporary  loss  which  this  policy 
would  bring  upon  them,  since  that  loss  would  be 
small  in  comparison  with  the  distress  which  the 
rest  of  the  country  would  suffer  without  it. 

This  speech  on  the  " American  system"  exhib 
ited  conspicuously  Clay's  strong  as  well  as  his 
weak  points  :  his  skill  of  statement  ;  his  inge 
nuity  in  the  grouping  of  facts  and  principles ;  his 
plausibility  of  reasoning ;  his  brilliant  imagination  ; 
the  fervor  of  his  diction  ;  the  warm  patriotic  tone 
of  his  appeals :  and  on  the  other  hand,  his  super 
ficial  research ;  his  habit  of  satisfying  himself  with 
half -knowledge  ;  his  disinclination  to  reason  out 
propositions  logically  in  all  their  consequences. 
We  find  there  statements  like  this  :  — 

"  The  measure  of  the  wealth  of  a  nation  is  indicated 
by  the  measure  of  its  protection  of  its  industry.  Great 
Britain  most  protects  her  industry,  and  the  wealth  of 
Great  Britain  is  consequently  the  greatest.  France  is 
next  in  the  degree  of  protection,  and  France  is  next  in 
the  order  of  wealth.  Spain  most  neglects  the  duty  of 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          217 

protecting  the  industry  of  her  subjects,  and  Spain  is  one 
of  the  poorest  of  European  nations.  Unfortunate  Ire 
land,  disinherited,  or  rendered  in  her  industry  subser 
vient  to  England,  is  exactly  in  the  same  state  of  pov 
erty  with  Spain,  measured  by  the  rule  of  taxation.  And 
the  United  States  are  still  poorer  than  either." 
And  this  still  mere  startling  remark :  — 

"  No  man  pays  the  duty  assessed  on  the  foreign  article 
by  compulsion,  but  voluntarily  ;  and  this  voluntary  duty, 
if  paid,  goes  into  the  common  exchequer,  for  the  common 
benefit  of  all.  Consumption  has  four  objects  of  choice : 
First,  it  may  abstain  from  the  use  of  the  foreign  article, 
and  thus  avoid  the  payment  of  the  tax  ;  second,  it  may 
employ  the  rival  American  fabric  ;  third,  it  may  en 
gage  in  the  business  of  manufacturing,  which  this  bill  is 
designed  to  foster  ;  fourth,  it  may  supply  itself  from 
the  household  manufactures." 

By  the  side  of  this  amazing  revelation  of  the 
means  by  which  the  consumer  can  for  himself 
neutralize  the  effects  of  a  high  tariff,  we  find  strik 
ingly  wise  sayings,  which,  however,  sometimes  fit 
economic  theories  different  from  his  own.  He  ob 
served,  for  instance,  that :  — 

"  The  great  desideratum  in  political  economy  is  the 
same  as  in  private  pursuits  ;  that  is,  what  is  the  best 
application  of  the  aggregate  industry  of  a  nation  that 
can  be  made  honestly  to  produce  the  largest  sum  of 
national  wealth  ?  " 

Notwithstanding  its  weak  points  the  speech  made 
a  great  impression.  The  immediate  effect  may  be 
judged  from  the  extent  to  which  it  monopolized 


218  HKNRY  CLAY, 

the  attention  of  speakers  on  the  other  side.  Among 
these  stood  forth  as  the  strongest  Daniel  Webster. 
A  remarkable  contrast  it  was  when,  against  the 
flashing  oratory  of  the  gay,  spirited  Kentuckian, 
there  rose  up  the  dark-browed  New  Englander  with 
his  slow,  well-measured,  massive  utterances.  These 
two  speeches  together  are  as  interesting  an  eco 
nomic  study  as  can  be  found  in  our  parliamentary 
history.  The  student  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  struck 
with  Webster's  superiority  in  keenness  of  analysis, 
in  logical  reasoning,  in  extent  and  accuracy  of 
knowledge,  in  reach  of  thought  and  mastery  of 
fundamental  principles.  Not  only  the  calm  pre 
cision  with  which  Webster's  speech  exposed  some 
of  Clay's  reckless  statements  and  conclusions,  but 
the  bright  flashes  of  light  which  it  threw  upon  a  va 
riety  of  important  economic  questions,  —  such  as 
the  relation  of  currency  to  the  production  of  wealth, 
the  balance  of  trade,  the  principles  of  exchange,  the 
necessary  limits  of  protection,  —  give  it  a  high  and 
lasting  value  in  our  literature.  It  is  a  remarkable 
fact  that  Webster  —  although  four  years  after 
wards  he  became  an  advocate  of  high  tariffs  on  the 
ground  that  New  England  had  taken  protection  as 
the  settled  policy  of  the  country,  had  therefore  en 
gaged  its  capital  in  manufactures,  and  should  not 
be  left  in  the  lurch  —  never  could  deny  or  reason 
away  the  principles  laid  down  in  his  great  argu 
ment  of  1824.  It  stands  to-day  as  his  strongest 
utterance  upon  economic  subjects. 

But  Clay  carried  the  day.     After  a  long~strug« 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          219 

gle  the  tariff  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  majority 
of  five,  and  after  being  slightly  amended  was  also 
passed  in  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  four.  The 
vote  in  the  House  was  significant  in  its  geograph 
ical  distribution.  It  was  thus  classed  by  Niles : 
The  "  navigating  and  fishing  states  "  of  New  Eng 
land —  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine 
—  gave  twenty-two  votes  against  and  only  three 
for  the  bill.  Of  the  "  manufacturing  states," 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  seven  votes  went  for 
and  one  against  it.  Of  the  "  grain-growing  states," 
Vermont,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Missouri,  ninety-two  votes  were  given  for  and  nine 
against  it.  The  "  tobacco-planting  and  grain-grow 
ing  state  "  of  Maryland  gave  six  against  and  three 
for  it.  The  "  cotton  and  grain  growing  state," 
Tennessee,  gave  seven  against  and  two  for  it. 
The  "  tobacco  and  cotton  planting  states,"  Vir 
ginia.  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Mississippi  and  Alabama,  threw  fifty-four  votes 
against  and  one  for  it.  All  the  three  votes  of  the 
"  sugar  and  cotton  planting  state,"  Louisiana,  went 
against  it.  Since  the  time  when  Calhoun  had  elo 
quently  argued  for  the  fostering  of  manufacturing 
industries  and  internal  improvements,  a  significant 
change  had  taken  place  in  the  current  of  Southern 
sentiment.  The  planting  interest,  most  closely 
identified  with  slavery,  began  to  present  an  almost 
solid  front  not  only  against  the  tariff,  but  against 
everything  not  in  harmony  with  its  system  of  labor. 


220  HENRY   CLAY. 

Massachusetts,  Maine,  and  New  Hampshire  op 
posed  the  tariff  because  it  would  be  injurious  to 
commerce.  But  they  soon  accommodated  them 
selves  to  it.  It  was  a  combination  of  the  grain- 
growing  with  the  manufacturing  interest,  the  idea 
of  the  "  home  market,"  that  carried  the  day. 

Clay  achieved  a  great  triumph  for  himself.  He 
had  not  only  far  outshone  all  others  by  his  cham 
pionship  of  the  successful  measure,  but  he  had 
given  to  the  protective  policy  a  new  name,  the 
"American  system,"  which  became  inseparably 
identified  with  his  own.  This  appellation  was  in 
deed  not  without  its  ludicrous  side,  which  Webster 
did  not  fail  promptly  to  perceive  and  to  exhibit 
with  keen  sarcasm.  "  If  names  are  thought  nec 
essary,"  said  he,  "  it  would  be  well  enough,  one 
would  think,  that  the  name  should  be  in  some 
measure  descriptive  of  the  thing:  and  since  Mr. 
Speaker  denominates  the  policy  which  he  recom 
mends,  ;  a  new  policy  in  this  country  ;  '  since  he 
speaks  of  the  present  measure  as  a  new  era  in  our 
legislation;  since  he  professes  to  invite  us  to  depart 
from  our  accustomed  course,  to  instruct  ourselves 
by  the  wisdom  of  others,  and  to  adopt  the  policy 
of  the  most  distinguished  foreign  states,  —  one  is  a 
little  curious  to  know  with  what  propriety  of  speech 
this  imitation  of  other  nations  is  denominated  an 
4  American  policy,'  while,  on  the  contrary,  a  pref 
erence  for  our  own  established  system,  as  it  now 
actually  exists  and  always  has  existed,  is  called  a 
'foreign  policy.'  This  favorite  American  policy 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.  221 

is  what  America  has  never  tried  ;  and  this  odious 
foreign  policy  is  what,  as  we  are  told,  foreign 
states  have  never  pursued."  But  although  the 
"  American  system  "  had  nothing  peculiarly  Amer 
ican  about  it,  the  name  was  adroitly  chosen  and 
served  its  purpose.  It  proved  a  well-sounding  cry 
which  to  many  minds  was  as  good  as  an  argument. 

Thus  Clay  had  put  his  opinions  on  internal  im 
provements,  on  the  tariff,  and  on  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  country,  as  conspicuously  as  possible  before 
the  people ;  his  platform  left  nothing  to  desire  as 
to  completeness  and  precision.  He  was  ready  for 
the  presidential  campaign. 

The  "  era  of  good  feeling  "  under  Monroe  left 
the  country  without  national  parties ;  for  when 
there  is  only  one,  there  is  practically  none.  The 
Federal  party  had  disappeared  as  a  national  organ 
ization  ;  it  had  only  a  local  existence.  There  were 
differences  of  opinion  on  matters  of  public  interest 
within  the  Republican  party  —  about  the  tariff,  for 
instance,  and  about  internal  improvements,  which 
had  some  effect  in  the  campaign,  but  which  did  not 
yet  produce  well-defined  and  lasting  divisions.  The 
violent  and  threatening  excitement  on  slavery 
called  forth  by  the  Missouri  trouble  had  come  and 
gone  like  a  thunderstorm.  In  the  planting  states 
the  question  was  sometimes  quietly  asked,  when  a 
public  man  was  discussed,  whether  he  had  been  for 
or  against  "  slavery  restriction  ;  "  but  in  the  rest 
of  the  country  the  antagonists  of  an  hour  had,  after 
the  compromise  was  passed,  silently  agreed  to  say 


222  HENRY  CLAY. 

no  more  about  it,  —  at  least  for  the  time  being. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  personal  question  be 
came  the  most  important  one.  Hitherto  candidates 
for  the  presidency  had  been  formally  nominated 
by  the  party  caucus  of  members  of  Congress.  But 
in  the  course  of  time  the  Congressional  caucus  had 
become  odious,  there  being  a  popular  impression 
that  it  was  too  much  subject  to  intrigue.  Recom 
mendations  of  candidates  had  always  been  made 
by  state  legislatures,  or  even  by  meetings  of  citi 
zens,  but  they  had  been  looked  upon  merely  as 
more  or  less  respectable  demonstrations  of  public 
sentiment.  These,  however,  as  the  Congressional 
caucus  fell  into  discredit,  gained  in  importance. 
National  conventions  of  political  parties  had  not 
yet  been  invented.  A  suggestion  to  call  one  was 
made  in  Pennsylvania,  but  it  remained  unheeded. 
In  the  breaking  up  of  old  political  habits,  the  tra 
ditional  notion  that  the  secretaryship  of  state  should 
be  regarded  as  the  stepping  stone  to  the  presidency, 
had  also  become  very  much  weakened.  There 
opened  itself,  then,  a  free  field  for  what  might 
irreverently  be  called  a  "  scramble." 

The  consequence  was  that  no  less  than  six  can 
didates  for  the  presidency  presented  themselves 
to  the  people :  Crawford  of  Georgia,  Jackson  of 
Tennessee,  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Clay  of  Ken 
tucky,  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  and  Clinton 
of  New  York.  The  two  last  named  were  soon 
withdrawn.  All  belonged  to  the  ruling  party. 
Crawford  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY          223 

was  a  man  of  imposing  presence.  He  had  filled 
several  public  stations  of  importance  creditably 
enough,  but  in  none  of  them  had  he  rendered  ser 
vices  so  eminent  as  to  entitle  him  to  rank  among 
the  first  order  of  statesmen.  Still  he  had  man 
aged  to  pass  in  those  days  as  a  great  man.  His 
was  that  temporary  sort  of  greatness  which  appears 
in  history  as  the  reputation  of  a  reputation.  He 
had  much  of  the  intriguing  politician  in  him.  He 
was  strongly  and  not  unjustly  suspected  of  manipu 
lating  the  patronage  of  his  department  for  his  own 
political  benefit.  It  was  he  who  in  1820  had 
caused  the  four-years'-term  law  to  be  enacted,  — 
that  law  which  has  done  so  much  to  develop  the 
"  spoils  system."  He  insisted  upon  holding  a 
"  regular  "  Congressional  caucus,  having  made  his 
arrangements  to  control  it.  It  was  accordingly 
called  to  meet  on  February  14,  1824  ;  but  of  two 
hundred  and  sixteen  Republicans,  only  sixty-six 
appeared,  and  two  more  sent  their  proxies.  Of 
these  sixty-eight  votes,  Crawford  received  sixty-four. 
Thus  he  had  the  "  regular  "  nomination  ;  but  as  it 
had  been  made  only  by  a  majority  of  a  minority, 
all  but  his  friends  having  refused  to  attend  the 
caucus,  it  lacked  authoritative  weight.  Moreover, 
his  health  was  seriously  impaired  by  a  paralytic 
attack,  which  naturally  injured  him  much  as  a 
candidate. 

The  candidacy  of  General  Andrew  Jackson  was 
an  innovation  in  American  politics.  From  Wash 
ington  down,  no  man  had  been  elected  to  the  presi- 


224  HENRY  CLAY. 

dency,  nor  indeed  been  a  candidate  for  it,  who  had 
not  grown  up  to  eminence  in  civil  station.  Every 
President  had  been  known  as  a  statesman.  Now, 
for  the  first  time,  a  candidate  was  presented  for  the 
highest  office  whose  reputation  had  been  won  en 
tirely  on  a  different  field.  General  Jackson  had 
indeed  held  civil  positions.  As  a  young  man  of 
thirty,  he  had  for  a  short  time  represented  Tennes 
see  in  Congress.  But  there  he  had  shown  no  sign 
of  capacity  as  a  legislator,  and  had  attracted  at 
tention  in  debate,  as  Jefferson  said,  only  because 
"  he  could  never  speak  on  account  of  the  rashness 
of  his  feelings,"  for  as  often  as  he  attempted  it  he 
would  "  choke  with  rage."  Next  he  had  become  a 
judge,  but  nothing  was  heard  of  his  decisions.  It 
was  only  as  a  soldier  that  he  won  brilliant  successes, 
and  in  the  field  indeed  achieved  great  renown  by 
his  energy,  his  intrepid  spirit,  and  the  natural 
gift  of  command.  But  whenever  the  general  had 
to  exercise  any  function  of  authority  beyond  the 
handling  of  troops  on  the  march  or  in  action,  he 
distinguished  himself  by  an  impatience  of  restraint, 
a  reckless  disregard  of  the  laws,  an  uncontrollable 
violence  of  temper,  and  a  daring  assumption  of 
power,  not  seldom  seriously  compromising  the 
character  as  well  as  the  peace  of  the  country.  His 
private  life  too,  while  it  was  that  of  a  man  of  in 
tegrity  and  generous  impulses,  abounded  in  tumult 
uous  broils  and  bloody  encounters.  Thus  his  mil 
itary  achievements  had  given  him  his  only  prestige, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  had  shown  in  their  strong- 


CANDIDATE  FOR    THE  PRESIDENCY.          225 

est  development  those  qualities  sometimes  found  in 
the  successful  man  of  war,  which  render  him  pecul 
iarly  unfit  for  responsible  position  and  the  delicate 
tasks  of  statesmanship  in  time  of  peace. 

But  his  candidacy,  although  a  complete  abandon 
ment  of  the  good  old  tradition  and  made  possible 
only  by  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  was  "  worked 
up  "  with  consummate  skill  by  one  of  his  friends 
in  Tennessee,  Major  Lewis,  who  thus  earned  a 
place  in  the  very  front  rank  of  political  managers. 
Some  letters  deprecating  the  spirit  of  partisan  pro 
scription  in  filling  public  offices,  which  General 
Jackson  had  written  to  Monroe  years  before,  were 
brought  before  the  public  to  propitiate  the  rem 
nants  of  the  Federal  party.  He  was  made  to 
write  another  letter,  to  Dr.  L.  H.  Coleman,  pro 
nouncing  in  a  vague  way  in  favor  of  a  protective 
tariff.  In  order  to  keep  a  man  of  ability  and 
character,  but  unfriendly  to  him,  out  of  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States,  and  also  to  give  the 
General  an  opportunity  to  renew  friendly  relations 
with  public  men  with  whom  he  had  quarreled, 
Jackson  himself  was  elected  a  senator  from  Ten 
nessee,  and  took  his  seat  in  December,  1823.  The 
Tennessee  legislature  had  expressed  its  preference 
for  him  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1822. 
A  convention  of  Federalists  at  Harrisburg  in 
Pennsylvania,  a  state  in  which  the  Federalists  still 
maintained  an  organization,  likewise  nominated 
him  in  February,  1824,  and  a  month  later  a  Dem 
ocratic  convention  at  the  same  place  followed  their 

15 


226  HENRY  CLAY. 

example.  Thus  Jackson  was  fairly  started  as  a 
"  man  of  the  people,"  and  presently  many  began 
to  see  in  him  not  only  the  greatest  military  hero 
in  history,  but  also  a  political  sage. 

The  candidate  who  most  completely  answered 
the  traditional  requirements  was  unquestionably 
John  Quincy  Adams,  the  candidate  of  New  Eng 
land.  He  had  been  longest  in  public  duty.  He 
had  won  eminence  by  conspicuous  service.  His 
experience  and  knowledge  as  a  statesman  were 
unexcelled  by  any  American  of  his  time.  His 
private  life  was  spotless,  and  his  public  character 
above  reproach.  Austere,  cold  and  distant  in  his 
manners,  he  lacked  altogether  those  qualities  which 
"  make  friends."  He  was  the  embodied  sense  of 
duty,  commanding  respect  but  not  kindling  affec 
tion.  Although  full  of  ambition  to  be  President, 
he  would  owe  his  elevation  solely  to  the  recognition 
of  his  merits.  His  election  was  to  signify  the  pop 
ular  approval  of  his  public  conduct.  He  would 
not  "  work "  to  obtain  it,  nor  countenance  his 
friends  in  "working"  for  him.  He  would  grate 
fully  and  proudly  take  the  presidency  from  the 
hands  of  the  people,  but  not  be  obliged  to  any  per 
son  for  procuring  it.  A  letter  which  he  wrote  in 
reply  to  a  suggestion  that  he  should  ask  and  en 
courage  others  to  promote  his  interests  as  a  candi 
date,  portrays  his  ideal  of  public  virtue  :  — 

"  Detur  digniori  is  the  inscription  upon  the  prize, 
The  principle  of  the  Constitution  in  its  purity  is,  that 
the  duty  shall  be  assigned  to  the  most  able  and  the  most 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          227 

worthy.  Politicians  and  newspapers  may  bestir  them 
selves  to  point  out  who  that  is ;  and  the  only  question 
between  us  is,  whether  it  be  consistent  with  the  duties  of 
a  citizen,  who  is  supposed  to  desire  that  the  choice  should 
fall  upon  himself,  to  assist,  countenance,  and  encourage 
those  who  are  disposed  to  befriend  him  in  the  pursuit. 
The  law  of  friendship  is  a  reciprocation  of  good  offices. 
He  who  asks  or  accepts  the  offer  of  friendly  service  con 
tracts  the  obligation  of  meeting  it  with  a  suitable  return. 
If  he  seeks  or  accepts  the  aid  of  one,  he  must  ask  or  ac 
cept  the  aid  of  multitudes.  Between  the  principle  of 
which  much  has  been  said  in  the  newspapers,  that  a 
President  of  the  United  States  must  remember  those  to 
whom  he  owes  his  elevation,  and  the  principle  of  accept 
ing  no  aid  on  the  score  of  friendship  or  personal  kind 
ness  to  him,  there  is  no  alternative.  The  former,  as  it 
has  been  announced  and  urged,  I  deem  to  be  essentially 
and  vitally  corrupt.  The  latter  is  the  only  principle  to 
which  no  exception  can  be  taken." 

This  principle  he  not  only  professed,  but  he 
acted  upon  it.  Compared  with  what  the  political 
usages  of  our  days  have  accustomed  us  to  consider 
admissible,  such  a  principle  may  appear  to  be  an 
exaggerated  refinement  of  feeling,  fitted  only  for 
an  ideal  state  of  society.  It  may  be  said  that  a 
statesman  so  conscientious  will  throw  away  his 
chance  of  rising  into  power,  and  thus  set  narrow 
limits  to  his  own  usefulness.  But,  after  all,  a  con 
scientious  public  man,  in  order  to  remain  perfectly 
true  to  his  public  duty,  will  either  have  to  accept 
the  principle  insisted  upon  by  John  Quincy  Adams, 
or  at  least  he  must  make  the  friends,  who  promote 


228  HENRY  CLAY. 

his  interests,  clearly  understand  that  there  may  be 
circumstances  under  which  he  will  consider  it  a 
virtue  to  forget  the  obligations  of  friendship,  and 
that,  whenever  the  public  interest  demands  it,  he 
will  always  have  the  courage  of  ingratitude. 

Clay  was  first  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency  by  the  members  of  the  Kentucky  legis 
lature  in  November,  1822.  Similar  demonstrations 
followed  in  Louisiana,  Missouri,  and  Ohio.  Of 
his  anxiety  to  be  elected  President  he  made  no 
secret.  He  conducted  a  large  correspondence 
with  friends  all  over  the  country,  from  whom  he 
received  reports,  and  to  whom  he  sent  his  sugges 
tions  in  return.  One  of  his  most  active  canvassers 
was  Thomas  H.  Benton,  who  represented  the  young 
State  of  Missouri  in  the  Senate.  Benton  travelled 
through  Tennessee,  Ohio,  and  Missouri  advocating 
Clay's  interest  and  reporting  progress  from  time 
to  time.  Before  long  we  shall  find  these  two  men 
engaged  in  a  very  different  sort  of  conversation. 
A  part  of  Clay's  correspondence  about  the  can 
vass  with  General  Peter  B.  Porter  and  W.  B. 
Rochester  of  New  York,  Senator  J.  S.  Johnston 
of  Louisiana,  and  his  old  friend  Francis  Brooke 
of  Virginia,  is  still  preserved.  It  reveals  a  very 
warm  and  active  interest  on  his  part  in  the  conduct 
of  his  campaign  —  sometimes  quite  urgent  as  to 
things  to  be  done.  He  was  very  much  chagrined 
not  to  see  a  vigorous  movement  in  his  favor  in 
Virginia,  his  native  state,  and  he  pressed  his 
friends  repeatedly,  with  evident  impatience,  to 
take  some  demonstrative  step. 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          229 

Thus  he  did  not,  as  a  candidate  for  the  pres 
idency,  adopt  the  lofty  standard  of  John  Quincy 
Adams's  principles  for  the  guidance  of  his  conduct. 
He  did  accept  and  encourage  the  aid  of  friends, 
and  was  quite  active  in  spurring  and  directing 
their  zeal.  But  beyond  that  he  did  not  go.  He 
kept  rigidly  clear  of  promises  and  bargains.  As 
early  as  January  31,  1823,  he  wrote  to  Francis 
Brooke  :  — 

"  On  one  resolution  my  friends  may  rest  assured  I  will 
firmly  rely,  and  that  is,  to  participate  in  no  intrigues,  to 
enter  into  no  arrangements,  to  make  no  promises  or 
pledges  ;  but  that,  whether  I  am  elected  or  not,  I  will 
have  nothing  to  reproach  myself  with.  If  elected  I  will 
go  into  the  office  with  a  pure  conscience,  to  promote 
with  my  utmost  exertions  the  common  good  of  our  coun 
try,  and  free  to  select  the  most  able  and  faithful  public 
servants.  If  not  elected,  acquiescing  most  cheerfully  in 
the  better  selection  which  will  thus  have  been  made,  I 
will  at  least  have  the  satisfaction  of  preserving  my  honor 
unsullied  and  my  heart  uncorrupted." 

And  when  in  the  heat  of  the  canvass  a  proposi 
tion  was  made  to  him  which  looked  like  a  bargain, 
he  wrote  (to  J.  S.  Johnston,  June  15,  1824)  :  — 

"  If  the  communication  from  Mr. is  to  be  consid 
ered  in  the  nature  of  an  overture,  there  can  be  but  one 
answer  given.  I  can  make  no  promises  of  office  of  any 
sort,  to  any  one,  upon  any  condition  whatever.  What 
ever  support  shall  be  given  to  me  must  be  spontaneous 
and  unsought." 

When  in  the  course  of  the  campaign  Martin  Van 


230  HENRY  CLAY. 

Buren,  then  a  leading  manager  for  Crawford,  be 
coming  alarmed  at  the  unexpected  strength  of  the 
Jackson  movement,  caused  Clay  to  be  approached 
with  the  suggestion  of  a  coalition  between  the 
Crawford  and  Clay  forces  to  make  Crawford  Pres 
ident  and  Clay  Vice-President,  Clay  replied  that  he 
was  resolved  neither  to  offer  nor  to  accept  any  ar 
rangement  with  regard  to  himself  or  to  office  for 
others,  and  that  he  would  not  decline  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  provided  it  were  offered  to  him  "  by 
the  public  having  the  right  to  tender  it."  Neither 
can  it  be  said  that  Clay,  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  or  in  his  public  utterances  elsewhere,  had 
tried,  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  to  trim 
his  sail  to  the  wind,  to  truckle  to  the  opinions  of 
others,  to  carry  water  on  both  shoulders.  In  the 
advocacy  of  his  principles  and  policies  he  was  as 
outspoken  and  straightforward  as  he  ever  had 
been,  perhaps  even  more  dashing  and  combative 
than  he  had  occasion  to  be.  It  would  hardly  have 
been  predicted  then  that  twenty  years  later  he 
would  lose  the  presidency  by  an  equivocation. 

In  the  course  of  the  canvass  it  became  obvious 
that  no  one  of  the  four  candidates  could  obtain  a 
majority  of  the  electoral  vote,  and  that  the  election 
would  devolve  upon  the  House  of  Representatives. 
This,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  campaign  from 
becoming  very  animated.  There  being  no  marked 
difference  of  principle  or  opinion  between  the  com 
petitors,  the  effusions  of  stump  orators  and  of  news 
papers  turned  mainly  on  personalities.  Adams 


CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.          231 

wrote  in  August :  "  The  bitterness  and  violence 
of  presidential  electioneering  increase  as  the  time 
advances.  It  seems  as  if  every  liar  and  calumni 
ator  in  the  country  was  at  work  day  and  night 
to  destroy  my  character.  It  is  impossible  to  be 
wholly  insensible  to  this  process  while  it  is  in  oper 
ation.  It  distracts  my  attention  from  public  busi 
ness  and  consumes  precious  time."  But  the  other 
candidates  fared  no  better  than  he.  Against 
Crawford  charges  of  corruption  were  brought. 
Jackson  was  denounced  as  a  murderer ;  and  Clay's 
well  known  fondness  for  the  card-table  came  home 
to  him  in  giving  him  the  name  of  a  gambler.  His 
adherents  in  Ohio  resolved  at  a  meeting  that,  as 
"  all  the  gentlemen  named  as  candidates  for  the 
presidency  were  honorable  and  intelligent  men, 
and  to  degrade  and  vilify  them  was  discreditable 
to  the  moral  sense  and  sound  judgment  of  the 
country,"  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  would  "  not  in 
dulge  in  the  unworthy  practice  of  vilifying  the 
candidates  whom  they  did  not  support."  This, 
however,  did  not  have  the  effect  of  improving  the 
temper  of  his  opponents.  As  the  day  of  election 
approached,  the  Jackson  managers  started  a  report 
that  Clay,  seeing  no  chance  for  himself,  would 
withdraw  from  the  contest  and  throw  his  influence 
for  Crawford ;  whereupon  his  friends  issued  an 
other  proclamation,  declaring  that  Clay  "  would 
not  be  withdrawn  from  the  contest  except  by  the 
•fiat  of  his  Maker."  There  were  demonstrations 
of  enthusiasm,  too,  —  not,  indeed,  by  uniformed 


232  HENRY  CLAY. 

campaign  organizations  and  great  torchlight  pa 
rades  ;  but  splendors  of  a  different  kind  were  not 
lacking.  Niles  records,  for  instance :  "  Presiden 
tial  vests !  A  large  parcel  of  silk  vestings  have 
been  received  at  New  York,  from  France,  stamped 
with  pretty  good  likenesses  of  Washington  and 
of  the  presidential  candidates,  Adams,  Clay,  and 
Jackson."  There  was  great  confusion  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  campaign  as  to  the  vice-presidency. 
The  Jackson  men  rallied  on  Calhoun.  The  friends 
of  Adams  tried  to  "  run  "  Jackson  for  the  second 
office.  Indeed,  such  a  combination  had  long  been 
in  the  mind  of  Adams  himself.  Gallatin  was  at 
first  on  the  Crawford  ticket,  but  then  withdrew  en 
tirely  from  the  contest.  The  Clay  men  selected 
Sanford  of  New  York. 

The  result  of  the  election  did  not  become  fully 
known  before  December.  It  turned  out  that  Jack 
son  had  won  ninety-nine  electoral  votes,  Adams 
eighty-four,  Crawford  forty-one  and  Clay  thirty- 
seven.  No  one  having  received  a  clear  majority, 
the  election  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  ;  and  as,  according  to  the  Constitution,  the 
choice  by  the  House  was  confined  to  the  three  can 
didates  having  the  highest  number  of  votes,  Clay's 
chance  was  gone.  He  received  the  whole  electoral 
vote  of  only  three  states,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and 
Missouri,  and  four  votes  from  New  York.  For 
the  vice-presidency,  Calhoun  had  a  decided  major 
ity,  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  out  of  two  hun« 
dred  and  sixty  one. 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          233 

Clay  was  deeply  disappointed.  He  had  hoped 
to  be  at  least  among  the  three  eligible  by  the 
House  of  Representatives.  He  had  counted  upon 
a  majority -(jf  the  electoral  vote  of  Illinois  ;  he  had 
not  desp.'t...  ,i  of  Virginia,  his  native  state.  It  was 
said  that  the  five  votes  of  Louisiana  had  been 
taken  from  Clay  by  a  trick  in  the  legislature,  and 
that  if  he  had  received  them,  which  would  have 
put  him  ahead  of  Crawford,  his  personal  popular 
ity  in  the  House  would  have  given  him  the  presi 
dency.  What  "  might  have  been  "  only  sharpened 
the  sting  of  the  disappointment  he  suffered.  In 
his  letters  he  spoke  philosophically  enough:  "As  it 
is,  I  shall  yield  a- cheerful  acquiescence  in  the  pub 
lic  decision.  We  must  not  despair  of  the  Kepub- 
lic.  Our  institutions,  if  they  have  the  value  which 
we  believe  them  to  possess  and  are  worth  preserv 
ing,  will  sustain  themselves,  and  will  yet  do  well." 
But  Martin  Van  Buren  wrote  on  December  31, 
1824,  to  a  friend  :  "  He  (Clay)  appears  to  me  not 
to  sustain  his  defeat  with  as  much  composure  and 
fortitude  as  I  should  have  expected,  and  evinces  a 
degree  of  despondency  not  called  for  by  the  actual 
state  of  things."  This  is  not  improbable,  for  a 
man  of  Clay's  sanguine,  impulsive  temperament 
feels  misfortune  as  keenly  as  he  enjoys  success. 

His  greatest  trial,  however,  was  still  to  come. 
But  before  it  came,  he  had  as  Speaker  of  the  House 
a  ceremonial  act  to  perform,  which  at  the  same 
time  was  an  act  of  friendship,  and  which,  by  the 
emotions  it  awakened,  may  for  a  moment  have 


234  HENRY  CLAY. 

made  him  forget  the  humiliation  of  defeat  and  the 
anxieties  besetting  him.  Lafayette  was  visiting 
the  United  States,  and  wherever  he  went,  all  the 
bitter  quarrels  of  the  presidential  struggle  were  si 
lenced  by  the  transports  of  enthu.iiii.sni  with  which 
he  was  received.  He  appeared  among  the  Amer 
ican  people  as  the  impersonation  of  their  heroic 
ancestry  to  whom  they  owed  everything  they  were 
proudest  of.  Only  Washington  himself,  had  he 
risen  from  the  grave,  could  have  called  forth 
deeper  feelings  of  reverence  and  affection.  As  the 
guest  of  the  nation,  he  was  invited  to  the  Capitol, 
and  Clay  had  to  welcome  him  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives.  It  was  a  solemn  and  touching  scene. 
Clay  delivered  an  address  full  of  feeling.  With 
delicate  instinct,  the  orator  seized  upon  the  poetic 
side  of  Lafayette's  visit.  "  T^he  vain  wish  has 
been  sometimes  indulged,"  said  he,  "that  Provi 
dence  would  allow  the  patriot,  after  death,  to  re 
turn  to  his  country,  and  to  contemplate  the  inter 
mediate  changes  which  had  taken  place,  to  view 
the  forests  felled,  the  cities  built,  the  mountains 
leveled,  the  canals  cut,  the  highways  constructed, 
the  progress  of  the  arts,  the  advancement  of  learn 
ing,  and  the  increase  of  population.  General,  your 
present  visit  to  the  United  States  is  a  realization 
of  the  consoling  object  of  that  wish.  You  are  in 
the  midst  of  posterity." 

The  relations  between  Clay  and  Lafayette  were 
of  the  friendliest  character.  They  had  long  been 
in  correspondence,  which  continued  for  years  after 


CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  PRESIDENCY.          235 

this  meeting  at  Washington.  Lafayette's  letters 
to  Clay,  many  of  which  have  been  preserved, 
abound  in  expressions  not  only  of  regard,  but  of 
affection.  It  seems  that  the  heart  of  the  old  pa 
triot  was  completely  captured  by  the  brilliant, 
frank,  and  generous  American,  and  he  was  repeat 
edly  heard  to  speak  of  Clay  as  the  man  he  wished 
to  see  made  President  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PKESIDENT- MAKER. 

INSTEAD  of  being  made  President,  Clay  found 
himself  invested  with  the  dangerous  power  of 
choosing  one  among  his  rivals  for  the  great  office. 
It  was  generally  admitted  that  his  influence  com 
manded  in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  votes  to  decide  the  contest  be 
tween  Adams,  Jackson,  and  Crawford.  He  was, 
therefore,  so  long  as  his  preference  remained  un 
known,  a  much-sought,  much-courted  man.  In  a 
letter  written  on  January  8  to  Francis  P.  Blair, 
whom  he  then  counted  among  his  friends  in  Ken 
tucky,  he  humorously  described  the  situation  :  "  I 
am  sometimes  touched  gently  on  the  shoulder  by  a 
friend,  for  example,  of  General  Jackson,  who  will 
thus  address  me :  '  My  dear  sir,  all  my  dependence 
is  upon  you ;  don't  disappoint  us ;  you  know  our 
partiality  was  for  you  next  to  the  hero,  and  how 
much  we  want  a  Western  President.'  Immedi 
ately  after  a  friend  of  Mr.  Crawford  will  accost 
me :  '  The  hopes  of  the  Republican  party  are  con 
centrated  on  you  ;  for  God's  sake  preserve  it.  If 
you  had  been  returned  instead  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
every  man  of  us  would  have  supported  you  to  the 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  237 

last  hour.  We  consider  you  and  him  as  the  only 
genuine  Republican  candidates.'  Next  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Adams  comes  with  tears  in  his  eyes  [an  allu 
sion  to  Adams's  watering  eyes]  :  4  Sir,  Mr.  Adams 
has  always  had  the  greatest  respect  for  you,  and 
admiration  of  your  talents.  There  is  no  station  to 
which  you  are  not  equal.  Most  undoubtedly  you 
are  the  second  choice  of  New  England,  and  I  pray 
you  to  consider  seriously  whether  the  public  good 
and  your  own  future  interests  do  not  point  most 
distinctly  to  the  choice  which  you  ought  to  make  ? ' 
How  can  one  withstand  all  this  disinterested  hom 
age  and  kindness  ?  " 

General  Jackson  himself  thought  it  good  pol 
icy  now  to  be  on  pleasant  terms  with  Clay.  There 
had  been  "  non  -  intercourse  "  between  them  ever 
since  that  memorable  debate  in  which  Clay  found 
fault  with  the  General's  conduct  in  the  Florida 
war.  Jackson  had  left  Clay's  visit  of  courtesy  un- 
returned,  and  when  accidentally  meeting  Clay  at  a 
Kentucky  village  inn,  in  the  summer  of  1819,  he 
had  hardly  deigned  to  notice  Clay's  polite  saluta 
tion.  But  now,  having  become  an  anxious  candi 
date  for  the  presidency  while  Clay  was  believed  to 
control  the  decisive  vote  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  Jackson  took  a  less  haughty  view  of 
things.  Several  members  of  Congress  from  Ten 
nessee  approached  Clay  to  bring  about  an  accom 
modation.  They  declared  in  General  Jackson's 
behalf,  that  when  treating  Clay's  courtesy  with 
apparent  contempt,  he  was  "laboring  under  some 


238  HENRY  CLAY. 

indisposition,"  and  meant  no  offence.  Clay  in  re 
sponse  said  that  in  censuring  General  Jackson's 
official  conduct  he  had  merely  "  expressed  opinions 
in  respect  to  public  acts,"  without  any  feeling  of 
personal  enmity.  The  Tennessee  delegation  then 
arranged  a  dinner  to  which  both  Clay  and  Jackson 
were  invited,  and  at  which  both  appeared.  They 
exchanged  salutations  and  dined  together.  When 
Clay  retired  from  the  table,  Jackson  and  his  friend 
Eaton  followed  him  to  the  door  and  insisted  that 
he  should  take  a  seat  with  them  in  their  carriage. 
Clay,  dismissing  his  own  coach,  rode  with  them 
and  was  set  down  at  his  door.  Jackson  then  in 
vited  him  to  dinner  and  he  accepted.  Soon  after 
wards  Jackson  with  several  members  of  Congress 
dined  at  Clay's  lodgings,  and  then  they  "fre 
quently  met  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  always 
respectfully  addressing  each  other."  Thus  the 
"  non-intercourse  "  was  laboriously  raised. 

But  all  the  while  Clay  was  firmly  resolved  to 
give  his  vote  and  influence  to  Adams.  He  had 
made  this  declaration  to  J.  J.  Crittenden  before  he 
left  Kentucky  for  Washington,  and  he  informed 
Benton  of  his  determination  early  in  December. 
The  legislature  of  Kentucky  passed  a  resolution 
requesting  the  members  of  Congress  from  that 
state  to  vote  for  Jackson,  but  even  that  could  not 
swerve  Clay  from  his  purpose.  His  conclusion 
was,  for  him,  the  only  possible  one.  Crawford 
was  a  paralytic.  For  months  he  had  been  unable, 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  sign  his  official 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  239 

• 

papers  with  his  own  hand.  It  was  extremely 
doubtful  whether,  if  elected  President,  he  would 
ever  be  able  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office. 
For  this  reason,  aside  from  other  considerations, 
Clay  could  not  vote  for  him.  Could  he  vote  for 
Jackson  ?  We  remember  Clay's  speech  on  Jack 
son's  lawless  conduct  in  the  Seminole  <Var.  He 
had  not  since  changed  his  opinion.  "  As  a  friend 
of  liberty,  and  to  the  permanence  of  our  institu 
tions,"  he  wrote  to  Francis  Brooke,  "  I  cannot  con 
sent,  in  this  early  stage  of  their  existence,  by  con 
tributing  to  the  election  of  a  military  chieftain,  to 
give  the  strongest  guaranty  that  the  Republic  will 
march  in  the  fatal  road  which  has  conducted  every 
other  republic  to  ruin."  So  again  he  wrote  to 
Blair  :  "  Mr.  Adams,  you  know  well,  I  should 
never  have  selected,  if  at  liberty  to  draw  from  the 
whole  mass  of  our  citizens,  for  a  President.  But 
there  is  no  danger  in  his  elevation  now,  or  in  time 
to  come.  Not  so  of  his  competitor,  of  whom  I 
cannot  believe  that  killing  two  thousand  five  hun 
dred  Englishmen  at  New  Orleans  qualifies  for  the 
various  difficult  and  complicated  duties  of  the 
chief  magistracy."  These  were  his  honest  opinions. 
How  could  he  vote  to  make  Jackson  President  ? 

It  was  indeed  argued  that,  as  Jackson  had  re 
ceived,  not  a  majority  of  the  electoral  votes  (for 
he  had  only  ninety-nine  out  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty  one),  but  more  votes  than  any  one  of  his 
competitors,  the  members  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  were  bound,  in  obedience  to  the  popular 


240  HENRY  CLAY. 

will,  to  ratify  that  verdict.  Not  to  do  so  was,  as 
Benton  expressed  it  with  a  desperate  plunge  into 
Greek,  "a  violation  of  the  demos  krateo  princi 
ple."  This  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  a  mere 
plurality  of  the  electoral  vote  should  be  sufficient 
to  elect  a  President ;  for  if  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  were  in  duty  bound  to  ratify  that  plu 
rality  as  if  it  were  a  majority,  then  the  plurality 
would  practically  elect.  But  the  Constitution  ex 
pressly  provides  that  a  President  shall  not  be 
elected  by  a  plurality  of  the  electoral  votes,  and 
that,  when  no  clear  majority  is  obtained,  the  House 
of  Representatives  shall  freely  choose  from  those 
three  candidates  who  shall  have  received  the  high 
est  numbers.  Moreover,  the  electors  having  in  six 
states  been  appointed  by  the  legislatures,  it  was  a 
mere  matter  of  conjecture  whether  General  Jack 
son  would  have  had  a  plurality  of  the  popular  vote, 
had  the  electors  in  all  the  states  been  chosen  by 
the  people.  Finally,  there  was  nothing  to  prove 
that  Adams  would  not  have  been  the  second  choice 
of  the  friends  of  Crawford  and  Clay,  in  a  sufficient 
number  of  cases  to  insure  him  a  clear  majority  in 
an  election  confined  to  him  and  Jackson.  The 
presumption  may  be  said  to  have  been  in  favor  of 
this,  if,  as  proved  to  be  the  fact,  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  inclined  to  give  him  that  ma 
jority.  There  was,  therefore,  nothing  in  such  an 
argument  to  limit  the  freedom  of  Clay's  choice. 

Benton  himself  admitted  that  his  "  demos  kra 
teo  principle  "  was  in  conflict  with  the  theory  of 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  241 

the  Constitution.  Indeed,  if  carried  to  its  logical 
consequences,  it  would  have  demanded  that  a  can- 
didate  receiving  an  absolute  majority  of  the  electo% 
ral  vote,  but  a  smaller  popular  vote  than  another 
candidate,  could  not  legitimately  be  President. 
Nobody  could  have  gone  this  length.  But  in  1825 
a  great  cry  was  raised  because  a  mere  plurality 
was  not  regarded  as  a  majority,  and  it  had  much 
effect. 

When  the  friends  of  Jackson  and  of  Crawford 
began  to  suspect  that  Clay  favored  Adams,  their 
conduct  towards  him  changed  abruptly.  As  they 
could  not  persuade  him,  they  sought  to  drive  and 
even  to  frighten  him.  He  received  anonymous 
letters  full  of  abuse  and  menace.  Some  of  them 
contained  threats  of  personal  violence.  In  others 
he  was  informed  that,  unless  Jackson  were  elected, 
there  would  be  insurrection  and  bloodshed.  A  pe 
culiar  kind  of  fanaticism  seems  to  have  been  blaz 
ing  up  among  Jackson's  friends.  Their  newspa 
pers  opened  furiously  on  Clay,  and  denounced  his 
unwillingness  to  vote  for  Jackson  as  a  sort  of  high 
treason.  But  Clay  could  not  be  moved.  "  I  shall 
risk,"  he  said  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Brooke,  "  I 
shall  risk  without  emotion  these  effusions  of  mal 
ice,  and  remain  unshaken  in  my  purpose.  What 
is  a  public  man  worth  if  he  will  not  expose  him 
self,  on  fit  occasions,  for  the  good  of  the  country?" 

At  last  the  Jackson  party  resorted  to  a  desper 
ate  expedient.  The  election  in  the  House  was  to 
take  place  on  February  9.  On  January  28  a  letter 

16 


242  HENRY  CLAY. 

dated  at  Washington  appeared  in  a  Philadelphia 
newspaper  pointedly  accusing  Clay  of  having  struck 
a  corrupt  bargain  with  Adams.  Clay,  the  writer 
said,  was  to  transfer  his  friends  to  Adams  for  the 
purpose  of  making  Adams  President,  and  Adams 
was  then  to  make  Clay  Secretary  of  State.  "  And 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,"  so  the  letter  continued, 
"  gave  the  information  to  the  friends  of  Jackson 
that,  if  the  friends  of  Jackson  would  offe?  the  same 
price,  they  would  close  with  them.  But  none  of  the 
friends  of  Jackson  would  descend  to  such  mean 
barter  and  sale."  The  letter  pretended  to  come 
from  a  member  of  Congress,  whofc  however,  did  not 
give  his  name.  A  copy  of  the  pz^er  was  mailed  to 
Clay.  This  stung  him  to  the  q^.ick.  On  February 
1  he  published  "  a  card  "  in  (Vie  "  National  Intelli 
gencer,"  in  which  he  expressed  his  belief  that  the 
letter  purporting  to  come  from  a  member  of  the 
House  was  a  forgery  ;  "  but,*'  he  added,  "  if  it  be 
genuine,  I  pronounce  the  member,  whoever  he  may 
be,  a  base  and  infamous  calumniator,  a  dastard 
and  liar  ;  and  if  he  dare  unveil  himself  and  avow 
his  name,  I  will  hold  him  responsible,  as  I  here 
admit  myself  to  be,  to  all  the  laws  which  govern 
and  regulate  men  of  honor."  Clay's  hot  blood  had 
run  away  with  his  judgment.  He  himself  felt  it 
as  soon  as  he  saw  his  "  card  "  in  print.  But  a  high- 
spirited  man,  conscious  of  his  rectitude,  should  not 
be  judged  too  harshly  if  the  first  charge  of  cor 
ruption  publicly  brought  against  him  does  not  find 
him  cool  enough  to  determine  whether  the  sileoca 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  243 

of  contempt  or  the  angry  cry  of  insulted  honor  will 
better  comport  with  his  dignity. 

Unfortunately,  the  threat  of  a  challenge,  which 
would  have  been  wrong  under  any  circumstances, 
in  this  case  turned  out  to  be  even  ludicrous.  Two 
days  afterwards  another  "  card  "  appeared  in  the 
''National  Intelligencer,"  in  which  George  Kremer, 
a  Representative  from  Pennsylvania,  avowed  him 
self  as  the  author  of  the  letter.  George  Kremer 
was  one  of  those  men  in  high  political  station  of 
whom  people  wonder  "  how  they  ever  got  there  ;  " 
an  insignificant,  ordinarily  inoffensive,  simple  soul, 
uneducated,  ignorant,  and  eccentric,  attracting  at 
tention  in  Washington  mainly  by  a  leopard-skin 
overcoat  of  curious  cut  which  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  wearing.  This  man  now  revealed  himself  as  the 
great  Henry  Clay's  antagonist,  declaring  himself 
"  ready  to  prove,  to  the  satisfaction  of  unpreju 
diced  minds,  enough  to  satisfy  them  of  the  accu 
racy  of  the  statements  which  were  contained  in 
that  letter."  The  thought  of  a  duel  with  George 
Kremer  in  his  leopard-skin  overcoat  appeared  at 
once  so  farcical  that  the  most  passionate  duelist 
would  not  have  seriously  entertained  it.  As  Dan 
iel  Webster  wrote  to  his  excellent  brother  Ezekiel, 
who  lived  on  a  farm  in  New  Hampshire,  "  Mr. 
Kremer  is  a  man  with  whom  one  would  think  of 
having  a  shot  about  as  soon  as  with  your  neigh 
bor,  Mr.  Simeon  Atkinson,  whom  he  somewhat 
resembles." 

The  rashness  of  Clay's  fierce  proclamation  was 


244  HENRY   CLAY. 

thus  well  punished.  He  had  now  to  retrieve  the 
dignity  of  his  character.  On  the  day  of  the  ap 
pearance  of  Kremer's  card,  Clay  rose  solemnly  in 
the  House  to  ask  for  a  special  committee  to  inquire 
into  the  charges  made  by  that  gentleman,  uin 
order  that  if  he  [Clay]  were  guilty,  here  the  proper 
punishment  might  be  applied,  or,  if  innocent,  here 
his  character  and  conduct  might  be  vindicated." 
He  expressed  the  anxious  hope  that  his  request  for 
an  investigation  of  the  charges  would  be  granted. 
"  Emanating  from  such  a  source,"  he  said,  "  this 
was  the  only  notice  he  could  take  of  them."  The 
challenge  to  mortal  combat,  Henry  Clay  against 
George  Kremer,  was  thus  withdrawn.  A  motion 
was  made  by  Forsyth  of  Georgia  that  the  com 
mittee  asked  for  be  appointed.  This  unexpected 
turn  of  affairs  threw  poor  Kremer  into  a  great 
flutter.  He  followed  Forsyth,  saying  that,  if  it 
should  appear  that  he  had  not  sufficient  reason  to 
justify  his  statements,  he  trusted  he  should  receive 
proper  reprobation.  He  was  willing  to  meet  the 
inquiry  and  abide  the  result,  but  he  desired  to  have 
the  honorable  Speaker's  "  card  "  referred  to  the 
committee  too.  He  was  restless  and  bustled  about, 
saying  to  one  member  that  the  letter  in  question 
was  not  really  of  his  own  making  ;  to  others,  that 
he  had  not  intended  at  all  to  make  any  charge 
against  Mr.  Clay.  Then  he  put  a  sort  of  disclaimer 
on  a  piece  of  paper  and  sent  it  to  Clay,  asking 
whether  this  would  be  satisfactory  ;  but  he  received 
the  answer  that  the  matter  was  now  in  the  hands 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  245 

of  the  House.  After  two  days'  debate  the  com 
mittee  was  elected  by  ballot,  not  one  member  being 
on  it  who  had  supported  Clay  for  the  presidency. 

On  February  9,  the  very  day  when  the  electoral 
vote  was  to  be  counted  and  the  election  by  the 
House  was  to  take  place,  the  committee  reported. 
And  what  was  the  report  ?  George  Kremer,  \i  ho 
at  first  had  promised  to  "  meet  the  inquiry  and 
abide  the  result,"  had  reconsidered  over  night  ; 
instead  of  giving  the  testimony  the  committee 
asked  of  him,  he  sent  to  that  tribunal  a  long  letter, 
refusing  to  testify.  He  would  not,  he  wrote,  ap 
pear  before  the  committee  either  as  an  accuser  or 
a  witness,  as  there  was  no  constitutional  authority 
by  which  the  House  could  assume  jurisdiction  over 
the  case  ;  such  an  assumption  would  threaten  a 
dangerous  invasion  of  the  liberty  of  speech  and 
of  the  press  ;  he  therefore  protested  against  the 
whole  proceeding,  and  preferred  to  communicate  to 
his  constituents  the  proofs  of  his  statements  with 
regard  to  the  corrupt  bargain  charged. 

This  letter  the  committee  laid  before  the  House, 
and  that  was  all  the  report  they  made.  In  the 
course  of  time,  much  light  has  been  thrown  upon 
this  remarkable  transaction.  It  has  now  become 
clear  that,  instead  of  a  bargain  being  struck  be 
tween  Adams  and  Clay,  overtures  were  made  by 
Jackson's  friends  to  Clay's  friends  ;  that  George 
Kremer,  a  simple-minded  man  and  a  fanatical  ad 
herent  of  Jackson,  was  used  as  a  tool  by  the  Jack 
son  managers,  especially  Senator  Eaton  from  Ten- 


246  HENRY  CLAY. 

nessee  ;  that  they  were  the  real  authors  of  Kremer's 
first  letter  to  the  Philadelphia  newspaper  ;  that 
Clay's  demand  for  an  inquiry  by  the  House  into 
the  charge  made  by  Kremer  was  an  unwelcome 
surprise  to  them ;  that  Kremer,  having  been  told 
by  them  that  the  charge  would  be  substantiated, 
blunderingly  assented  to  the  inquiry  when  the 
motion  was  made ;  that  they,  knowing  the  charge 
to  be  false,  wanted  to  avoid  an  investigation  of  it 
by  the  House  ;  that,  when  the  committee  called 
upon  Kremer  for  proofs,  he  was  taken  in  hand  by 
the  Jackson  managers,  who  wrote  for  him  the  letter 
protesting  against  the  Congressional  proceeding; 
that,  in  avoiding  an  investigation  by  the  House  and 
a  report  011  the  merits  of  the  case,  their  purpose 
was  to  keep  the  charge  without  any  authoritative 
refutation  before  the  people ;  that  they  first  hoped 
to  terrorize  Clay  into  supporting  Jackson,  or  at 
least  to  separate  his  friends  from  him,  while,  in  the 
event  of  Jackson's  defeat,  the  cry  of  his  having 
been  defrauded  of  his  rights  by  a  corrupt  bargain 
would  help  in  securing  his  election  the  next  time. 
This  was  the  famous  "bargain  and  corruption  "  af 
fair,  which  during  a  long  period  excited  the  minds 
of  men  all  over  the  United  States.  It  was  an  in 
famous  intrigue  against  the  good  name  of  two  hon 
orable  men,  designed  to  promote  the  political  for 
tunes  of  a  third. 

The  "  inside  view "  of  the  relations  between 
Adams  and  Clay  came,  long  after  this  period, 
to  public  knowledge  through  the  publication  of 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  247 

Adams's  Diary.  The  most  unfavorable  inference 
which  can  be  drawn  from  the  revelations  therein 
made  is,  that  some  of  Clay's  friends  very  urgently 
desired  his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State ;  and 
that  one  of  them,  Letcher  of  Kentucky,  a  good- 
natured  but  not  very  strong-headed  man,  had  said 
to  Adams  that  Clay's  friends,  in  supporting  Adams, 
would  expect  Clay  to  have  an  influential  place  in 
the  administration,  disclaiming,  however,  all  au 
thority  from  Clay,  and  receiving  no  assurance  from 
Adams.  Those  who  have  any  experience  of  public 
life  know  that  the  adherents  of  a  prominent  public 
man  are  almost  always  extremely  anxious  to  see 
him  in  positions  of  power,  and  very  apt  to  go  ahead 
of  his  wishes  in  endeavoring  to  put  him  there,  thus 
not  seldom  compromising  him  without  his  fault. 
Adams  received  a  good  many  visits  of  men  who 
washed  to  sound  his  disposition,  among  them  Web 
ster,  who  desired  to  obtain  a  promise  that  the  Fed 
eralists  would  not  be  excluded  from  office,  and  who 
himself  hoped  to  be  appointed  minister  to  Eng 
land,  though  he  did  not  express  such  a  wish  at  the 
time.  Clay  too  visited  Adams,  to  tell  him  that  he 
would  have  the  vote  of  Kentucky,  and  to  converse 
with  him  upon  the  general  situation.  It  would  be 
absurd  to  see  in  these  occurrences  anything  to  sup 
port  the  charge  that  Clay's  vote  and  influence  were 
thrown  for  Adams  in  execution  of  a  bargain  secur 
ing  him  a  place  in  the  Cabinet ;  for  by  the  testi 
mony  of  Crittenden  and  Ben  ton,  the  fact  stands 
conclusively  proven  that,  before  all  these  conver- 


248  HENRY  CLAY. 

sations  with  Adams  happened,  Clay  had  already 
declared  his  firm  determination  to  vote  for  Adams, 
upon  the  grounds  then  and  afterwards  avowed. 
The  "  bargain  and  corruption "  charge  remains, 
therefore,  simply  a  calumny. 

The  effect  produced  at  the  time  upon  Clay's 
mind  by  these  things  appears  in  his  correspond 
ence.  They  aroused  in  him  the  indignant  pride 
of  one  who  feels  himself  high  above  the  venal 
crowd.  Just  before  the  appearance  of  Kremer's 
letter  he  wrote  to  Blair :  "  The  knaves  cannot 
comprehend  how  a  man  can  be  honest.  They  can 
not  conceive  that  I  should  have  solemnly  interro 
gated  my  conscience,  and  asked  it  to  tell  me  seri 
ously  what  I  ought  to  do."  And  to  Francis 
Brooke  on  February  4 :  "  The  object  now  is,  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Crawford  and  General  Jackson, 
to  drive  me  from  the  course  which  my  deliberate 
judgment  points  out.  They  all  have  yet  to  learn 
my  character  if  they  suppose  it  possible  to  make 
me  swerve  from  my  duty  by  any  species  of  intimi 
dation  or  denunciation."  When  the  election  came 
on,  Clay's  whole  influence  went  in  favor  of  Adams, 
who,  011  the  first  ballot  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  received  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the 
states,  and  was  declared  to  be  elected  President. 

But  Clay's  trials  were  not  over.  When  Adams 
began  to  make  up  his  Cabinet,  he  actually  did 
offer  to  Clay  the  secretaryship  of  state.  After 
what  had  happened,  should  Adams  have  made  the 
offer,  and  should  Clay  have  accepted  it?  These 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  249 

questions  have  been  discussed  probably  with  more 
interest  than  anything  connected  with  a  cabinet 
appointment  in  our  political  history. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  the  offer  would 
have  been  regarded  as  a  perfectly  proper  and  even 
natural  one.  Clay  was  by  far  the  most  brilliant 
leader  of  the  ruling  party.  His  influence  was  large 
and  his  ability  equal  to  his  influence.  It  was  de 
sirable  to  have  a  Western  man  in  the  Cabinet. 
Clay  towered  so  high  above  all  the  public  charac 
ters  in  that  region  that  it  would  have  looked  almost 
grotesque  to  pass  him  by,  exalting  somebody  else. 
It  is  true  that  Adams  had  differed  from  Clay  on 
important  things,  and  had  expressed  some  unfa 
vorable  opinions  of  him,  as,  indeed,  he  had  of  al 
most  all  other  public  men  of  note.  But  the  sub 
jects  on  which  they  had  differed  were  disposed  of  ; 
and  as  to  personal  feelings,  it  was  one  of  the 
remarkable  features  of  Adams's  character  that, 
strong  as  his  prejudices  and  resentments  were, 
he  put  them  resolutely  aside  when  they  stood  in 
the  way  of  the  fulfillment  of  a  public  duty.  So, 
to  the  end  of  conciliating  the  Crawford  element, 
he  sufficiently  overcame  a  feeling  of  strong  per 
sonal  dislike  to  offer  to  Crawford  himself,  in  spite 
of  that  gentleman's  physical  disabilities,  to  con 
tinue  him  as  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment,  —  an  offer  which  Crawford  promptly  de 
clined.  Adams  had  even  conceived  the  idea  of 
tendering  the  War  Department  to  General  Jack 
son,  but  learned  that  Jackson  would  take  such  an 


250  HENRY  CLAY. 

offer  "in  ill  part."  In  an  administration  thus  de 
signed  to  be  constructed  upon  the  principle  that 
the  leaders  of  the  ruling  party  should  form  part 
of  it,  Clay  was  of  course  a  necessary  man  ;  and 
to  offer  him  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  appeared  not 
only  in  itself  proper,  but  unavoidable.  Clay  would 
therefore  undoubtedly  have  been  invited  into  the 
Cabinet  whether  he  had  or  had  not  exercised  any 
influence  favorable  to  Mr.  Adams's  election. 

Neither  would  there  have  been  any  question  as 
to  the  propriety  of  Clay's  accepting  any  place  in 
the  new  administration  under  ordinary  circum 
stances.  But  that  the  actual  circumstances  were 
not  of  the  ordinary  kind,  Clay  himself  felt.  When 
Adams,  a  few  days  after  the  election  by  the  House, 
offered  him  at  a  personal  interview  the  secretary 
ship  of  state,  he  replied  that  he  "  would  take  it 
into  consideration,"  and  answer  "as  soon  as  he 
should  have  time  to  consult  his  friends."  It  was 
an  anxious  consultation.  At  first  some  of  his 
friends  were  opposed  to  acceptance.  Would  not 
his  taking  the  secretaryship  of  state  be  treated  as 
conclusive  evidence  proving  the  justice  of  the  im 
putations  which  had  been  made  against  him  ?  It 
was  known  that  Clay  and  Adams  had  not  been  on 
terms  of  cordial  friendship.  They  had  seriously 
differed  on  important  points  at  Ghent.  Clay  had 
made  opposition  to  Monroe's  administration,  and 
especially  had  criticised  Adams  as  Secretary  of 
State.  Less  than  two  years  before,  Adams  had 
been  attacked  by  one  of  the  Ghent  Commissioners, 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  251 

Jonathan  Eussell ;  he  had  published  an  elaborate 
defense,  in  which  he  referred,  with  regard  to  some 
points  of  fact,  to  Clay  as  a  witness,  and  Clay  had, 
in  a  public  and  somewhat  uncalled-for  letter,  ques 
tioned  the  correctness  of  Adams's  recollections,  — 
an  act  which  was  generally  looked  upon  as  an  in 
dication  of  an  unfriendly  spirit.  Would  not  this 
sudden  reconciliation,  accompanied  with  an  ex 
change  of  political  favors,  look  suspicious,  and  ren 
der  much  more  plausible  the  charge  of  a  corrupt 
bargain  ?  Besides,  was  not  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  Clay's  true  field  ?  Would  not  the  ad 
ministration  want  his  support  there  more  than  in 
the  Cabinet  ?  Would  not  the  Western  people 
rather  see  him  there  than  in  an  executive  depart 
ment  ? 

These  were  weighty  questions.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  urged,  whether  he  accepted  or  not, 
he  would  be  subject  to  animadversion.  If  he  de 
clined,  it  would  be  said  that  the  patriotic  Kremer, 
by  bravely  exposing  the  corrupt  bargain,  had  act 
ually  succeeded  in  preventing  its  consummation. 
Conscious  of  his  own  rectitude,  should  he  attach 
such  importance  to  an  accusation  coming  from  so 
insignificant  a  person  ?  Indeed,  would  not  either 
of  the  other  candidates,  had  he  been  elected,  have 
made  him  the  same  offer?  Moreover,  there  was 
a  consideration  of  duty.  It  might  be  difficult  to 
form  the  administration  without  him.  Could  he 
permit  it  to  be  said  or  suspected  that,  after  having 
contributed  so  much  to  the  election  of  Adams  as 


252  HENRY   CLAY. 

President,  he  thought  too  ill  of  him  to  accept  the 
first  place  in  his  Cabinet?  As  Adams  was  now 
the  constitutional  head  of  the  government,  ought 
not  Clay  to  regard  him  as  such,  dismissing  any 
personal  objections  which  he  might  have  had  to 
him  ?  These  arguments,  as  we  know  from  Clay's 
correspondence,  finally  changed  the  opinions  of 
those  of  his  friends  who  had  at  first  been  averse 
to  his  taking  office.  The  friends  of  Adams  in 
New  England  were  especially  urgent.  Some  of 
Crawford's  adherents  too,  and  even  some  of  those 
of  General  Jackson,  expressed  to  Clay  their  con 
viction  that  he  should  accept.  He  had  declared 
that  he  would  follow  the  advice  of  his  friends,  and 
so  he  did.  To  Brooke  he  wrote  :  "  I  have  an  un 
affected  repugnance  to  any  executive  employment, 
and  my  rejection  of  the  offer,  if  it  were  in  con 
formity  to  their  deliberate  judgment,  would  have 
been  more  compatible  with  my  feelings  than  its 
acceptance." 

In  spite  of  that  "repugnance,"  it  is  not  prob 
able  that  much  persuasion  was  required  to  make 
him  accept.  He  was  a  high-spirited,  proud  man. 
When  George  Kremer  made  a  charge,  should 
Henry  Clay  run  away  ?  Not  he.  He  would  not 
appear  to  be  afraid.  This  may  not  have  been  all. 
Clay's  ambition  for  the  presidency  was  ardent  and 
impatient.  He  would  forget  it  for  a  moment  when 
discussing  public  questions.  But  it  was  not  likely 
to  be  absent  from  his  mind  when  considering 
whether  he  should  not  take  the  place  offered  him 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  253 

He  had  looked  upon  the  secretaryship  of  state 
as  the  stepping-stone  to  the  presidency  before ; 
he  probably  continued  to  do  so.  The  presidential 
fever  is  a  merciless  disease.  It  renders  its  victims 
blind  and  deaf.  So  now  Clay  misjudged  the  sit 
uation  altogether.  "An  opposition  is  talked  of 
here,"  he  wrote  to  Brooke  ;  "  but  I  regard  that  as 
the  ebullition  of  the  moment.  There  are  elements 
for  faction,  none  for  opposition.  Opposition  to 
what  ?  To  measures  and  principles  which  are  yet 
to  be  developed  !  "  He  believed  the  new  admin 
istration  would  be  judged  on  its  merits.  He  did 
not  know  the  spirit  it  was  to  meet.  When  he  de 
clared  himself  resolved  to  accept  the  secretaryship 
of  state,  six  days  after  the  offer  had  been  made,  he 
was  very  far  from  having  counted  the  cost. 

Immediately  before  the  final  adjournment  of  the 
Eighteenth  Congress,  on  March  3,  1825,  the  House 
of  Representatives  passed  a  resolution  thanking 
"  the  Honorable  Henry  Clay  for  the  able,  impartial, 
and  dignified  manner  in  which  he  had  presided 
over  its  deliberations,"  etc.  In  response,  "  retiring, 
perhaps  forever,"  from  the  office  of  Speaker,  Clay 
was  able  to  say  that,  in  the  fourteen  years  during 
which  he  had,  with  short  intervals,  occupied  that 
difficult  and  responsible  position,  not  one  of  his 
decisions  had  ever  been  reversed  by  the  House. 
Indeed,  Henry  Clay  stands  in  the  traditions  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  as  the  greatest  of  its 
Speakers.  His  perfect  mastery  of  parliamentary 
law,  his  quickness  of  decision  in  applying  it,  his 


254  HENRY   CLAY. 

unfailing"  presence  of  mind  and  power  of  command 
in  moments  of  excitement  and  confusion,  the  cour 
teous  dignity  of  his  bearing,  are  remembered  as 
unequaled  by  any  one  of  those  who  had  preceded 
or  who  have  followed  him.  The  thanks  of  the 
House  were  voted  to  him  with  zest.  Yet  many  of 
those  who  felt  themselves  obliged  to  assent  to  this 
vote  were  then  already  his  bitter  enemies. 

The  next  day  John  Quincy  Adams  was  inaugu 
rated  as  President  of  the  United  States.  As  soon 
as  the  nomination  of  Henry  Clay  for  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State  came  before  the  Senate,  the  war 
against  him  began  in  due  form.  An  address  by 
George  Kremer  to  his  constituents,  in  which  all 
conceivable  gossip  was  retailed  to  give  color  to  the 
"  bargain  and  corruption  "  cry,  was  freely  used  in 
Washington  to  prevent  Clay's  nomination  from 
being  confirmed.  General  Jackson  himself  ex 
pressed  his  hope  of  its  rejection.  A  letter  written, 
evidently  for  publication,  by  Jackson  to  his  friend 
Samuel  Swartwout,  in  New  York,  which  bristled 
with  insidious  insinuations  against  Clay,  was  circu 
lated  in  Washington  on  the  eve  of  the  day  when 
Clay's  nomination  was  to  be  acted  upon. 

Still  trying  to  obtain  an  authoritative  investiga 
tion  of  his  conduct,  Clay  asked  a  Senator  to  move 
a  formal  inquiry  by  a  senate  committee,  if  any 
charge  should  be  made  against  him  in  that  body. 
But  no  tangible  charge  was  brought  forward  ;  only 
one  Senator  indulged  in  some  vague  animadver 
sions,  presenting  no  ground  for  an  inquiry.  Genera] 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  255 

Jackson,  then  still  a  member  of  the  Senate,  said 
nothing ;  but  he,  together  with  fourteen  other  Sen 
ators,  among  them  the  leading  Southerners,  voted 
against  consenting  to  the  nomination.  It  was, 
however,  confirmed  by  a  majority  of  twelve,  seven 
Senators  being  absent. 

On  the  day  of  the  inauguration,  General  Jack 
son  had  been  one  of  the  earliest  of  those  who 
"  took  the  hand  "  of  President  Adams,  congratu 
lating  him  upon  his  accession  to  power.  The  news 
papers  highly  praised  the  magnanimity  of  the  de 
feated  candidate.  But  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  Senate,  when  Jackson  was  on  his  way  to  his 
home  in  Tennessee,  his  tone  changed.  Everywhere 
he  was  cordially  received ;  and  to  every  one  willing 
to  hear  it,  at  public  receptions,  in  hotels,  on  steam 
boats,  he  was  ready  to  say  that  the  will  of  the 
people  had  been  fraudulently  defeated,  and  that 
the  presidential  office  had  virtually  been  stolen 
from  its  rightful  owner  by  a  corrupt  combination. 
This  foreshadowed  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1828.  The  cry  was  to  be  :  "  The  rights  of  the 
people  against  bargain  and  corruption." 

Not  having  had  the  benefit  of  an  official  inquiry, 
Clay  now  tried  to  put  down  the  calumny  once  and 
forever  by  an  explicit  statement  of  the  case  over 
his  cwn  signature.  On  March  26,  not  many  days 
after  he  had  become  a  member  of  the  new  adminis 
tration,  he  published  an  address  to  his  old  constit 
uents  in  Kentucky,  in  which  he  elaborately  re 
viewed  the  whole  story,  conclusively  refuted  the 


256  HENRY  CLAY. 

charges  brought  against  him,  and  fully  explained 
and  defended  his  conduct.  It  was  an  exceedingly 
able  document,  temperate  in  tone,  complete  and 
lucid  in  the  presentation  of  facts,  and  unanswer 
able  in  argument.  One  of  its  notable  passages 
may  be  mentioned  as  characteristic.  Clay  was 
very  much  ashamed  of  having  threatened  to  chal 
lenge  George  Kremer.  Expressing  his  regret 
therefor,  he  added  :  "I  owe  it  to  the  community  to 
say  that,  whatever  I  may  have  done,  or  by  inevit 
able  circumstances  might  be  forced  to  do,  no  man 
in  it  holds  in  deeper  abhorrence  than  I  do  that 
pernicious  practice  [of  dueling].  Condemned  as 
it  must  be  by  the  judgment  and  the  philosophy,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  religion,  of  every  thinking  man, 
it  is  an  affair  of  feeling,  about  which  we  cannot, 
although  we  should,  reason.  Its  true  correction 
will  be  found  when  all  shall  unite,  as  all  ought  to 
unite,  in  its  unqualified  proscription."  But  until 
that  comes  to  pass,  shall  we  go  on  challenging  and 
fighting,  the  slaves  of  false  notions  of  honor  ?  At 
any  rate,  we  shall  soon  see  the  Honorable  Henry 
Clay  again  with  pistol  in  hand. 

Clay  may  have  thought  that  his  address  would 
make  an  end  of  the  "  bargain  and  corruption " 
charge  for  all  time,  and  so  it  should  have  done. 
Indeed,  he  received  letters  from  such  men  as  Chief 
Justice  Marshall,  John  Tyler,  Justice  Story,  Daniel 
Webster,  Lewis  Cass,  and  others,  congratulating 
him  upon  the  completeness  of  his  vindication  and 
triumph.  But  he  lived  to  appreciate  the  wonder. 


PRESIDENT-MAKER.  257 

ful  vitality  of  a  well  -  managed  political  lie.  No 
body  believes  that  lie  now.  But  it  defeated  his 
dearest  ambitions,  and  darkened  the  rest  of  his 
public  life.  It  kept  him  refuting  and  explaining, 
explaining  and  refuting,  year  after  year ;  yet  still 
thousands  of  simple-minded  citizens  would  continue 
honestly  to  believe  that  Henry  Clay  was  a  great 
knave,  who  had  defeated  the  will  of  the  people  by 
bargain  and  corruption,  and  cheated  the  old  hero 
of  New  Orleans  out  of  his  rights. 
17 


CHAPTER  XL 

SECRETARY    OF    STATE. 

THE  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
the  last  one  in  which  the  conduct  of  the  govern 
ment  accorded  strictly  with  the  best  traditions  of 
the  Republic.  Nothing  was  farther  from  his  mind 
than  to  use  the  power  of  appointment  and  removal 
for  political  ends.  At  that  time  the  notion  that 
the  accession  of  a  new  President  must  necessarily 
involve  a  thorough  reconstruction  of  the  Cabinet, 
was  not  yet  invented.  Following  the  example  of 
most  of  his  predecessors,  he  applied  the  rule  that 
no  unnecessary  changes  should  be  made,  even  in 
the  heads  of  the  executive  departments.  His  elec 
tion  to  the  presidency  and  Calhoun's  to  the  vice- 
presidency  had  vacated  the  secretaryships  of  state 
and  of  war,  and  these  vacancies  he  filled  with 
Henry  Clay,  and  James  Barbour  of  Virginia.  As 
we  have  seen,  he  offered  to  continue  Crawford  at 
the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  only 
after  Crawford  had  declined  he  summoned  to  that 
place  Richard  Rash  of  Pennsylvania.  Southard  of 
New  Jersey  remained  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and 
William  Wirt  of  Virginia,  Attorney  General.  The 
Postmaster  General,  McLean,  was  also  left  in  his 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  259 

place,  but  that  officer  did  not  at  that  time  occupy 
a  seat  in  the  Cabinet ;  and  there  was  no  Depart 
ment  of  the  Interior.  The  members  of  the  Cabi 
net  all  passed  as  Republicans.  But  the  Federal 
ists,  of  whom  there  were  scattered  remnants  here 
and  there,  —  some  of  them  looked  up  to  as  vener 
able  relics,  —  were  by  no  means  excluded  from 
place.  When  De  Witt  Clinton  had  declined  the 
mission  to  England,  Adams  urged  it  upon  Rufus 
King  of  New  York,  who  then  stood  in  the  politics 
of  the  country  as  a  fine  and  reverend  monument  of 
ancient  Federalism. 

The  new  administration  had  hardly  taken  the 
reins  in  hand,  when  that  spirit  of  hostility  to  it 
which  prevailed  among  the  following  of  Jackson, 
Crawford,  and  Calhoun  appeared  even  among  per 
sons  in  federal  office ;  and  the  question  whether 
it  would  not  be  well  to  fill  the  service  with  friends, 
or  at  least  to  clear  it  of  enemies,  presented  itself 
in  a  very  pointed  form.  Then  Adams  proved  the 
quality  of  his  principles,  as  witness,  by  way  of  ex 
ample,  this  case  :  The  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  from  Louisiana  denounced  Sterret, 
the  Naval  Officer  at  New  Orleans,  as  a  noisy  and 
clamorous  reviler  of  the  administration,  who  had 
even  gone  so  far  as  to  get  up  a  public  demonstra 
tion  to  insult  the  member  of  Congress  for  having 
voted  to  make  Mr.  Adams  President.  The  member 
of  Congress,  therefore,  demanded  Sterret's  removal. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  doubt  about  the  facts.  The 
insulting  demonstration  had  not  actually  come  off, 


260  HENRY   CLAY. 

but  Sterret  had  been  active  in  making  preparations 
for  it. 

Clay  agreed  with  the  member.  During  the  pend 
ency  of  an  election,  said  lie,  every  man  in  the 
service  should  feel  free  to  "  indulge  his  prefer 
ence  ; "  but  no  officer  should,  after  election,  "  be 
permitted  to  hold  a  conduct  in  open  and  continual 
disparagement  of  the  administration  and  its  head." 
In  the  treatment  of  persons  in  the  service,  he 
thought,  the  administration  "  should  avoid,  on  the 
one  hand,  political  persecution,  and  on  the  other 
an  appearance  of  pusillanimity."  Adams  came  to 
a  different  conclusion^  He  looked  upon  this  as  a 
test  case,  and  it  is  wholesome  to  remember  what  a 
President  of  the  United  States  thought  upon  such 
a  question  in  the  year  1825.  He  asked  Clay  in 
reply  why  he  should  remove  this  man.  The  in 
sulting  demonstration,  of  which  the  member  of 
Congress  complained,  had  only  been  intended,  but 
not  practically  carried  out.  Would  a  mere  "  in 
tention  never  carried  into  effect  "  justify  the  re 
moval  of  a  man  from  office  ?  "  Besides,"  he  con 
tinued,  "should  I  remove  this  man  for  this  cause, 
it  must  be  upon  some  fixed  principle,  which  would 
apply  to  others  as  well  as  to  him.  And  where  was 
it  possible  to  draw  the  line  ?  Of  the  custom  house 
officers  throughout  the  Union  four  fifths,  in  all 
probability,  were  opposed  to  my  election.  They 
were  all  now  in  my  power,  and  I  had  been  urged 
very  earnestly  to  sweep  away  my  opponents  and 
provide,  with  their  places,  for  my  friends.  I  can 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  261 

justify  the  refusal  to  adopt  this  policy  only  by  the 
steadiness  and  consistency  of  my  adhesion  to  my 
own.  If  I  depart  from  this  in  one  instance,  I  shall 
be  called  upon  by  my  friends  to  do  the  same  thing 
in  many.  An  insidious  and  inquisitorial  scrutiny 
into  the  personal  dispositions  of  public  officers  will 
creep  through  the  whole  Union,  and  the  most  self 
ish  and  sordid  passions  will  be  kindled  into  activity 
to  distort  the  conduct  and  misrepresent  the  feelings 
of  men  whose  places  may  become  the  prize  of  slan 
der  upon  them."  This  was  the  President's  answer  to 
Clay's  suggestions,  and,  as  the  Diary  tells  us,  "  Mr. 
Clay  did  not  press  the  subject  any  farther."  It 
would  have  been  useless. 

What  moved  Adams,  in  laying  down  this  rule  of 
action,  was  not  faint-heartedness  He  was  one  of 
the  most  courageous  of  men ;  he  never  shrank  from 
a  responsibility.  He  even  enjoyed  a  conflict  when 
he  found  one  necessary  to  enforce  his  sense  of 
right.  Here  he  made  his  stand  for  the  principles 
upon  which  the  government  in  its  early  days  had 
been  conducted,  and  his  decision  in  the  Sterret  case 
became  the  rule  by  which  his  administration  was 
governed  from  beginning  to  end.  He  made  only 
two  removals  during  the  four  years,  and  these  were 
for  bad  official  conduct.  With  unbending  firm 
ness  he  resisted  every  attempt  to  make  him  dismiss 
officers  who  intrigued  against  his  reelection,  or 
openly  embraced  the  cause  of  his  opponents.  The 
reappointment  of  worthy  officers  upon  the  expira 
tion  of  their  terms,  without  regard  to  politics,  was 
a  matter  of  course. 


262  HENRY   CLAY. 

Clay  continued  to  think,  not  without  reason,  that 
the  President  carried  his  toleration  to  a  dangerous 
extreme.  He  would  not  have  permitted  men  in 
office  to  make  their  hostility  to  the  administration 
conspicuous  and  defiant.  But  he  was  far  from 
favoring  the  use  of  the  appointing  and  removing 
power  as  a  political  engine.  He  was  opposed  to 
arbitrary  removals,  as  to  everything  that  would 
give  the  public  offices  the  character  of  spoils. 

While  these  were  the  principles  upon  which  the 
administration  was  conducted,  the  virulent  hostility 
of  its  opponents  continued  to  crop  out  in  a  cease 
less  repetition,  in  speech  and  press,  of  the  assaults 
upon  its  members,  which  had  begun  with  the  elec 
tion.  In  May  Clay  went  to  Kentucky  to  meet  his 
family  and  to  take  them  to  Washington.  Wher 
ever  he  passed,  his  friends  greeted  him  with  enthu 
siastic  demonstrations.  Public  dinners  crowded 
one  another,  not  only  in  Kentucky,  but  in  Virginia, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  along  his  route  of  travel ; 
but  everywhere,  in  response  to  expressions  of  af 
fection  and  confidence,  he  felt  himself  obliged  to 
say  something  in  explanation  of  his  conduct  in 
the  last  presidential  election.  The  spectre  of  the 
"  bargain  and  corruption  "  charge  seemed  to  pur 
sue  him  wherever  he  went. 

When  he  returned  to  Washington,  in  August, 
he  was  in  deep  affliction,  two  of  his  daughters  hav 
ing  died  in  one  month,  one  of  them  on  her  way  to 
the  national  capital.  But  as  to  the  state  of  the 
public  mind  he  felt  somewhat  encouraged.  He 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  263 

had  found  many  friends  to  welcome  him  with 
great  warmth.  He  had  heard  the  President  spoken 
of  with  high  respect  and  confidence.  Daniel  Web 
ster,  too,  sent  him  cheering  reports  as  to  "  an  en 
tire  and  not  uneasy  acquiescence  in  the  events  of 
last  winter,"  which  he  had  found  on  his  summer 
excursions.  Clay  almost  persuaded  himself  that 
the  storm  had  blown  over.  But  then  he  was 
startled  again  by  some  stirring  manifestation  of 
the  bitterness  which  the  last  presidential  election 
had  left  behind  it.  One  day  he  met  a  general 
of  the  regular  army,  with  his  aid-de-camp,  in  the 
President's  ante-room.  The  aid^de-camp  being  in 
troduced  to  him,  Clay  politely  offered  his  hand, 
which  the  young  man,  drawing  back,  refused  to 
take.  It  turned  out  that  he  was  a  connection  of 
General  Jackson.  Clay  was  so  shocked  by  this 
rude  demonstration  that  he  wrote  the  General  a 
complaining  letter  about  it. 

Something  far  more  serious  happened  in  October. 
The  legislature  of  Tennessee  met,  and  proceeded 
forthwith  to  nominate  General  Jackson  as  a  candi 
date  for  President  to  be  elected  in  1828.  On  Oc 
tober  13,  more  than  three  years  before  the  period 
of  the  election,  General  Jackson  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  legislature,  accepting  the  nomination,  and  at 
the  same  time  resigning  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  In 
this  letter  he  laid  down  his  "  platform."  He  gave 
the  world  to  understand  that  there  was  much  cor 
ruption  at  Washington,  and  that,  unless  a  certain 
remedy  were  applied,  corruption  would  "  become 


264  HENRY  CLAY. 

the  order  of  the  day  there."  The  remedy  was  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  declaring  "  any 
member  of  Congress  ineligible  to  office  under  the 
general  government  during  the  term  for  which  he 
was  elected,  and  for  two  years  thereafter,  except  in 
cases  of  judicial  office."  This  letter  was  generally 
understood.  It  wras  hardly  taken  as  the  promise 
of  a  valuable  reform  to  be  carried  out  if  Jackson 
should  become  President.  Nobody  attached  much 
importance  to  that ;  certainly  Jackson  did  not, 
for  when  he  did  become  President,  he,  as  we  shall 
see,  appointed  a  much  larger  number  of  members 
of  Congress  to  office  than  had  been  so  appointed 
by  any  one  of  his  predecessors.  But  it  was  taken 
as  a  proclamation  by  General  Jackson  that  he  had 
been  defrauded  of  the  presidency  by  a  corrupt 
bargain  between  a  sitting  member  of  Congress  and 
a  presidential  candidate,  the  member  of  Congress 
obtaining  a  cabinet  office  as  a  reward  for  seating 
the  candidate  in  the  presidential  chair.  It  pointed 
directly  at  Adams  and  Clay.  Thus  —  it  being  also 
understood  that,  according  to  custom,  Adams  would 
be  supported  by  his  followers  as  a  candidate  for  a 
second  term  —  the  campaign  of  1828  was  opened, 
not  only  constructively,  but  in  clue  form,  with  the 
cry  of  "bargain  and  corruption"  sanctioned  by  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  opposition.  It  became  more 
lively  with  the  opening  of  the  Nineteenth  Congress 
in  December,  1825. 

Under  Monroe,  during  the  "  era  of  good  feel 
ing,"  there  had  been  individual  opposition  to  this 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  265 

or  that  measure,  or  to  the  administration  generally, 
but  there  had  been  no  opposition  party.  With 
the  accession  of  Adams  the  era  of  good  feeling  was 
well  over,  and  those  new  groupings  began  to  appear 
which,  in  the  course  of  time,  developed  into  new 
party  organizations.  Men  were  driven  apart  or 
drawn  together  by  different  motives.  Of  these, 
the  commotion  caused  by  the  last  presidential  elec 
tion  furnished  the  most  potent  at  that  time.  A 
great  many  of  the  adherents  of  the  defeated  candi 
dates,  especially  the  Jackson  men,  were  bound  to 
make  odious  and  to  break  down  the  Adams  admin 
istration  by  any  means  and  at  any  cost.  This  was 
a  personal  opposition,  virulent  and  remorseless. 
There  were  rumors,  too,  of  an  opposition  being 
systematically  organized  by  Calhoun,  who  then 
began  to  identify  his  ambition  exclusively  with  the 
cause  of  slavery.  In  the  vote  against  Clay's  con 
firmation  Adams  saw  "  the  rallying  of  the  South 
and  of  Southern  interests  and  prejudices  to  the 
men  of  the  South."  Not  a  few  Southern  men  be 
gan  to  feel  an  instinctive  dread  of  the  spirit  repre 
sented  by  Adams. 

But  the  hostility  to  the  administration  was  soon 
furnished  with  an  opportunity  to  rally  on  a  ques 
tion  of  constitutional  principle.  Already  in  his 
inaugural  address,  President  Adams  had  brought 
forth  something  vigorous  on  internal  improve 
ments.  But  in  his  first  message  to  Congress  he 
went  beyond  what  had  ever  been  uttered  upon  that 
subject  before.  After  having  laid  down  the  far- 


266  HENRY  CLAY. 

reaching  doctrine  that  "  the  great  object  of  the 
institution  of  civil  government  is  the  improvement 
of  those  who  are  parties  to  the  social  compact," 
he  enumerated  a  vast  array  of  powers  granted  in 
the  Constitution,  and  added  that,  "  if  these  powers 
may  be  effectually  brought  into  action  by  laws 
promoting  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  com 
merce,  and  manufactures,  the  cultivation  of  the 
mechanic  and  of  the  elegant  arts,  the  advancement 
of  literature,  and  the  progress  of  the  sciences,  orna 
mental  and  profound,  to  refrain  from  exercising 
them  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  themselves 
would  be  to  hide  in  the  earth  the  talent  committed 
to  our  charge,  —  would  be  treachery  to  the  most 
sacred  of  trusts."  lie  spoke  of  the  establishment 
of  a  national  university,  astronomical  observatories, 
and  scientific  enterprises,  and  suggested  that,  while 
European  nations  advanced  with  such  rapid  strides, 
it  would  be  casting  away  the  bounties  of  Provi 
dence  if  we  stood  still,  confessing  that  we  were 
"  palsied  by  the  will  of  our  constituents."  This 
was  opening  a  perspective  of  governmental  func 
tions  much  larger  than  the  American  mind  was 
accustomed  to  contemplate.  There  had  been  some 
serious  shaking  of  heads  when  this  part  of  the  mes 
sage  was  discussed  in  the  Cabinet,  especially  on  the 
part  of  Barbour  and  Clay.  This  went  a  long  way 
beyond  the  building  of  roads  and  the  digging  of 
canals,  upon  which  Clay  had  been  so  fond  of  dis 
coursing.  But  Adams,  who  was  always  inclined 
to  express  his  opinions  in  the  most  uncompromising 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  267 

form,  insisted  upon  doing  so  this  time.  The  doc 
trine  that  the  Constitution  conferred  by  implication 
upon  the  government  powers  of  almost  unlimited 
extent,  and  also  imposed  upon  it  the  duty  of  keep 
ing  those  powers  in  constant  activity,  not  only  dis 
turbed  the  political  thinkers  of  the  Democratic 
school,  but  it  was  especially  apt  to  alarm  the  slave- 
holding  interest,  which  at  that  period  began  to  see 
in  the  strictest  construction,  and  in  the  mainte 
nance  of  the  extremest  states'  rights  principles,  its 
citadel  of  safety. 

The  first  actual  collision  between  the  adminis 
tration  and  its  opponents  occurred  upon  another 
question.  The  President  announced  in  his  message 
that  the  Spanish-American  republics  had  resolved 
upon  a  congress  to  meet  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
in  which  they  should  all  be  represented ;  that  they 
had  also  invited  the  United  States  to  send  plenipo 
tentiaries  ;  that  this  invitation  had  been  accepted, 
and  that  ministers  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
would  be  commissioned  to  "  attend  at  those  delib 
erations."  This  was  the  famous  Panama  mission. 

A  grand  council  of  the  South  and  Central  Ameri 
can  republics  was  planned  as  early  as  1821,  Bolivar 
favoring  it,  and  a  series  of  treaties  with  regard  to 
it  was  concluded  between  them.  In  April,  1825, 
Clay  was  approached  by  the  Mexican  and  Colom 
bian  ministers  with  the  inquiry  whether  an  invita 
tion  to  the  United  States  to  be  represented  in  the 
Panama  Congress  would  be  favorably  considered. 
Nothing  could  be  more  apt  to  strike  Clay's  fancy 


268  HENRY  CLAY. 

than  such  an  undertaking.  The  Holy  Alliance 
darkly  plotting  at  its  conferences  and  congresses 
in  Europe  to  reestablish  the  odious  despotism  of 
Spain  over  South  and  Central  America,  and  thus 
to  gain  a  basis  of  operations  for  interference  with 
the  North  American  Republic,  had  frequently  dis 
turbed  his  dreams.  To  form  against  this  league 
of  despotism  in  the  old  world  a  league  of  republics 
in  the  new,  and  thus  to  make  this  great  continent 
the  ark  of  human  liberty  and  a  higher  civilization, 
was  one  of  those  large,  generous  conceptions  well 
calculated  to  fascinate  his  ardent  mind.  He  suc 
ceeded  even  in  infusing  some  of  his  enthusiasm 
into  Adams's  colder  nature.  The  invitation  was 
promptly  accepted.  But  the  definition  of  the  ob 
jects  of  the  Congress,  filtered  through  Adams's 
sober  mind,  appeared  somewhat  tame  by  the  side  of 
the  original  South  American  scheme,  and  probably 
of  Clay's  desires,  too.  The  South  Americans  had 
thought  of  a  league  for  resistance  against  a  common 
enemy;  of  a  combination  of  forces,  among  them 
selves  at  least,  to  be  favored  by  the  United  States, 
for  the  liberation  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  from 
Spanish  power  ;  of  some  concert  of  action  for  the 
general  enforcement  of  the  principles  of  the  Amer 
ican  policy  proclaimed  by  President  Monroe,  and 
so  on.  It  is  very  probable  that  Clay,  although  not 
going  quite  so  far,  had  in  his  mind  some  perma 
nent  concert  among  American  states  looking  to  ex 
pressions  of  a  common  will,  and  to  united  action 
when  emergency  should  require. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  269 

But  the  purposes  of  our  participation  in  the 
Panama  Congress,  as  they  appeared  in  the  Presi 
dent's  messages  to  the  Senate  and  the  House,  and 
later  in  Clay's  instructions  to  the  American  en 
voys,  were  cautiously  limited.  The  Congress  was 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  good  opportunity  for  giving 
to  the  Spanish-American  brethren  kindly  advice, 
even  if  it  were  only  as  to  their  own  interests  ;  also 
for  ascertaining  in  what  direction  their  policy  was 
likely  to  run.  Advantageous  arrangements  of 
commercial  reciprocity  might  be  made  ;  proper 
definitions  of  blockade  and  neutral  rights  might 
be  agreed  upon.  The  "  perpetual  abolition  of  pri 
vate  war  on  the  ocean,"  as  well  as  a  "  concert  of 
measures  having  reference  to  the  more  effectual 
abolition  of  the  slave  -  trade,"  should  be  aimed  at. 
The  Congress  should  also  be  used  as  "  a  fair  occa 
sion  for  urging  upon  all  the  new  nations  of  the 
South  the  just  and  liberal  principles  of  religious 
liberty,"  not  by  interference  with  their  concerns, 
but  by  claiming  for  citizens  of  the  United  States 
sojourning  in  those  republics  the  right  of  free 
worship.  The  Monroe  doctrine  should  be  inter 
preted  to  them  as  meaning  only  that  each  American 
nation  should  resist  foreign  interference,  or  attempts 
to  establish  new  colonies  upon  its  soil,  with  its  own 
means.  The  recognition  of  Hayti  as  an  indepen 
dent  state  was  to  be  deprecated,  —  this  against 
Clay's  first  impulse,  —  on  the  ostensible  ground 
that  Hayti,  by  yielding  exclusive  commercial  ad 
vantages  to  France,  had  returned  to  a  semi -de- 


270  HENRY  CLAY. 

pendent  condition.  All  enterprises  upon  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico,  such  as  had  been  planned  by  Mexico 
and  Colombia,  were  by  all  means  to  be  discour 
aged. 

This,  by  the  way,  was  an  exceedingly  ticklish 
subject.  If  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  were  to  be  revo 
lutionized,  slave  insurrections  would  follow,  and 
the  insurrectionary  spirit  would  be  likely  to  com 
municate  itself  to  the  slave  population  of  the 
Southern  States.  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  would 
hardly  be  able  to  maintain  their  independence,  and 
if  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  great  naval 
power,  that  power  would  command  the  Mexican 
Gulf  and  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  slave- 
holding  influence,  therefore,  demanded  that  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico  should  not  be  revolutionized.  The 
general  interests  of  the  United  States  demanded 
that  the  two  islands  should  not  pass  into  the  hands 
of  a  great  naval  power.  It  was,  therefore,  thought 
best  that  they  should  quietly  remain  in  the  posses 
sion  of  Spain.  That  possession  was  threatened  so 
long  as  peace  was  not  declared  between  Spain  and 
her  former  colonies.  It  seemed,  therefore,  espe 
cially  desirable  that  the  war  should  come  to  a  final 
close.  To  this  end  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  whom 
American  diplomacy  had  fallen  into  the  habit  of 
regarding  as  a  sort  of  benevolent  uncle,  was  to  be 
pressed  into  service.  He  was  asked  to  persuade 
Spain,  in  view  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  further 
war,  to  yield  to  necessity  and  recognize  the  inde 
pendency  of  her  former  colonies  on  the  American 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  271 

continent.  Clay's  instructions  to  Middleton,  the 
American  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  setting  forth 
the  arguments  to  be  submitted  to  the  Emperor, 
were,  in  this  respect,  a  remarkable  piece  of  rea 
soning  and  persuasiveness. 

At  the  Panama  Congress  all  was  then  to  be  done 

o 

to  prevent  the  designs  of  Mexico  and  Colombia 
upon  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  from  being  executed. 
On  the  whole,  that  Congress  was  to  be  regarded  only 
as  a  consultative  assembly,  a  mere  diplomatic  con 
ference,  leaving  the  respective  powers  represented 
there  perfectly  free  to  accept  and  act  upon  the 
conclusions  arrived  at,  or  not,  as  they  might  choose. 
There  was  to  be  no  alliance  of  any  kind,  no  entan 
gling  engagement,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 
This  was  the  character  in  which  the  Panama  mis 
sion  was  presented  to  Congress. 

The  first  thing  at  which  the  Senate  took  of 
fence  was  that  the  President  in  his  message  had 
spoken  of  "  commissioning  "  ministers  at  his  own 
pleasure.  A  practical  issue  on  this  point  was 
avoided  when  Adams  sent  to  the  Senate  the  nom 
inations  of  the  ministers  to  be  appointed.  Then 
the  policy  of  the  mission  itself  became  the  subject 
of  most  virulent  attack.  The  opposition  was  com 
posed  of  two  distinct  elements.  One  consisted  of 
the  slave-holding  interest,  which  feared  every  con 
tact  with  the  new  republics  that  had  abolished  slav 
ery;  which  scorned  the  thought  of  envoys  of  the 
United  States  sitting  in  the  same  assembly  with 
the  representatives  of  republics  that  had  negroes 


272  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  mulattoes  among  their  generals  and  legislators  ; 
which  dreaded  the  possible  recognition  of  the  inde 
pendence  of  Hayti  as  a  demonstration  showing  the 
negro  slaves  in  the  Union  what  they  might  gain 
by  rising  in  insurrection  and  killing  their  masters. 
This  element  of  opposition  was  thoroughly  in  ear 
nest.  It  had  an  unbending  logic  on  its  side.  If 
slavery  was  to  exist  in  the  United  States,  it  had  to 
demand  that  not  only  the  home  policy,  but  also  the 
foreign  policy,  of  the  Republic  must  be  accommo 
dated  to  the  conditions  of  its  existence. 

The  other  element  of  the  opposition  consisted 
mainly  of  those  who  were  determined  to  break 
down  the  administration  in  any  event  and  at  any 
cost.  Their  principal  argument  was  that,  notwith 
standing  the  assurances  given  by  the  President, 
participation  in  the  Panama  Congress  would  lead 
the  United  States  into  entangling  alliances ;  and 
if  it  did  not  do  so  at  first,  it  would  do  so  in  its  con 
sequences.  In  the  country,  however,  the  Panama 
mission  was  popular.  A  grand  Amphictyonic  coun 
cil  of  the  American  republics,  held  on  the  great 
isthmus  of  the  continent,  to  proclaim  the  glories 
of  free  government  to  the  world,  pleased  the  fancy 
of  the  people.  When  public  opinion  seemed  to 
become  impatient  at  the  interminable  wrangle  in 
Congress,  the  Senate  voted  down  an  adverse  report 
of  its  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  by  twenty- 
four  to  nineteen,  and  confirmed  the  nominations 
for  the  Panama  mission.  In  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  another  debate  sprang  up  on  the  bill 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  273 

making  the  necessary  appropriation,  which  passed 
by  more  than  two  to  one.  The  spirit  of  the  "  op 
position  in  any  event  "  betrayed  itself  in  unguarded 
utterances,  such  as  the  following,  ascribed  to  Van 
Buren,  the  anti-administration  leader  in  the  Sen 
ate  :  "  Yes,  they  have  beaten  us  by  a  few  votes, 
after  a  hard  battle  ;  but  if  they  had  only  taken  the 
other  side  and  refused  the  mission,  we  should  have 
had  them." 

But  that  was  not  the  end  of  the  debate  in  the 
Senate.  The  attack  on  the  administration  was 
continued  in  the  discussion  on  a  resolution  offered 
by  Branch,  of  North  Carolina,  denying  the  compe 
tency  of  the  President  to  send  ministers  to  the  Pan 
ama  Congress  without  the  previous  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  which  competency  the  Presi 
dent  had  originally. claimed  in  his  message  to  Con 
gress.  This  presented  to  John  Randolph  an  op 
portunity  for  a  display  of  his  peculiar  power  of 
vituperation.  In  a  long,  rambling  harangue  he  in 
sinuated  that  the  invitations  to  the  Panama  Con 
gress  addressed  by  the  ministers  of  the  Southern 
republics  to  the  government  of  the  United  States 
had  been  written,  or  at  least  inspired,  by  the  State 
Department,  and  were  therefore  fraudulent.  It 
was  in  this  speech  that  he  characterized  the  admin 
istration,  alluding  to  Adams  and  Clay,  as  "  the  co 
alition  of  Blifil  and  Black  George,  —  the  combi 
nation,  unheard  of  till  then,  of  the  Puritan  with 
the  blackleg." 

When  Clay  heard  of  this,  he  boiled  over  with 

18 


274  UENRY  CLAY. 

rage.  Only  a  few  months  before  he  had,  in  the 
address  to  his  constituents,  spoken  of  the  duel  as 
a  relic  of  barbarism,  much  to  be  discountenanced. 
The  same  Clay  now  promptly  sent  a  challenge  to 
Randolph.  The  explanation,  which  might  have 
averted  the  duel,  Randolph  refused  to  give.  On 
April  8  they  umet,"  Randolph  not  intending  to 
harm  Clay,  but  Clay  in  terrible  earnest.  They  ex 
changed  shots,  and  both  missed ;  only  Randolph's 
coat  was  touched.  At  the  second  fire  Clay  put  an 
other  bullet  through  Randolph's  coat,  but  Randolph 
emptied  his  pistol  into  the  air,  and  said :  "  I  do  not 
fire  at  you,  Mr.  Clay."  Thereupon  they  shook 
hands,  and  all  was  over.  Randolph's  pistol  had 
failed  to  prove  that  Clay  was  a  "  blackleg,"  and 
Clay's  pistol  had  also  failed  to  prove  that  Ran 
dolph  was  a  calumniator  ;  but,  according  to  the 
mysterious  process  of  reasoning  which  makes  the 
pistol  the  arbiter  of  honor,  the  honor  of  each  was 
satisfied.  Webster  wrote  to  Judge  Story  :  "  You 
will  have  heard  of  the  bloodless  duel.  I  regret  it 
very  much,  but  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Randolph  has 
been  such  that  I  suppose  it  was  thought  that  it 
could  no  longer  be  tolerated."  Benton  looked  at 
the  matter  from  a  different  point  of  view.  With 
the  keen  relish  of  a  connoisseur,  he  describes  the 
whole  affair  down  to  the  minutest  detail  in  his 
"  Thirty  Years'  View,"  devoting  nearly  eight  of  its 
large  pages  to  it,  and  sums  up :  "  It  was  about  the 
last  high-toned  duel  that  I  have  witnessed,  and 
among  the  highest  toned  I  have  ever  witnessed, 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  275 

and  so  happily  conducted  to  a  fortunate  issue,  —  a 
result  due  to  the  noble  character  of  the  seconds,  as 
well  as  to  the  generous  and  heroic  spirit  of  the 
principals." 

The  net  result  was  that  Randolph's  epigram 
about  "  the  combination  of  the  Puritan  and  the 
blackleg  "  received  all  the  more  currency,  and  that 
Clay,  by  his  example,  had  given  new  sanction 
to  the  practice  he  had  denounced  as  barbarous. 
He  was  by  no  means  a  professional  duelist.  His 
hand  was  in  fact  so  unused  to  the  pistol  that  on 
this  occasion  he  feared  he  would  not  be  able  to  fire 
it  within  the  time  given  him.  He  simply  did  not 
possess  that  courage  which  is  higher  than  the  cour 
age  to  face  death.  ; 

The  debates  on  the  Panama  mission  served  as 
a  first  general  drill  of  the  opposition.  It  went 
on  harassing  the  Adams  administration  to  its  last 
hour,  some  of  the  most  virulent  attacks  being  di 
rected  against  Clay.  Every  measure  which  was 
suspected  of  being  specially  favored  by  the  admin 
istration  had  to  meet  bitter  resistance.  In  the 
Senate  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  in 
troduced,  in  accordance  with  Jackson's  recommen 
dation,  to  exclude  members  of  Congress  from  ex 
ecutive  appointments  ;  another  to  circumscribe  the 
power  of  the  general  government  with  regard  to 
internal  improvements  ;  also  a  bill  to  limit  the 
executive  patronage.  However  much  good  there 
may  have  been  in  these  propositions,  it  became 
apparent  that  they  were  brought  forward  mainly 


276  HENRY  CLAY. 

for  the  purpose  of  giving  point  to  the  opposition 
and  to  keep  its  spirit  hot.  Not  one  of  them  led  to 
any  practical  result. 

The  confinement  of  office  life,  the  anxieties  of 
his  position,  and  probably  a  feeling  of  regret  that 
he  had  put  himself  into  a  situation  in  which  he 
could  only  with  difficulty  defend  himself  against  the 
virulent  hostility  assailing  him  without  cessation, 
began  to  tell  upon  Clay's  health.  He  felt  weary 
and  ill,  so  seriously  sometimes  that  he  thought  of 
giving  up  his  place  in  the  administration.  After 
the  adjournment  of  Congress  he  visited  his  home 
in  Kentucky.  Again  he  was  cheered  and  feasted 
on  the  way,  as  well  as  by  his  old  constituents  at 
home,  and  again  he  had,  at  dinners  and  receptions, 
to  tell  the  story  of  the  last  presidential  election 
over  and  over,  in  order  to  prove  that  the  "  bargain 
and  corruption  "  charge  was  false.  Again  he  re 
turned  to  Washington,  encouraged  by  the  enthusi 
astic  affection  of  his  friends,  and  their  assurance 
that  there  were  large  masses  of  people  believing  in 
the  honorable  character  of  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  State. 

The  elections  for  the  twentieth  Congress  which 
took  place  that  summer  and  autumn  began  to  show 
new  lines  of  party  division.  In  many  districts  the 
struggle  was  avowedly  between  those  friendly  and 
those  hostile  to  the  administration.  The  forming 
groups  were  not  yet  divided  by  clearly  defined  dif 
ferences  of  principle  or  policy,  but  the  air  was  full 
of  charges,  insinuations,  and  personal  detraction. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  277 

General  Jackson's  voice,  too,  was  heard  again  in 
characteristic  tones.  He  took  good  care  to  keep  his 
grievance  before  the  people.  Having  been  invited 
by  some  of  his  friends  in  Kentucky  to  visit  that 
state  "for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the  in 
trigue  and  management  of  certain  prominent  indi 
viduals  against  him,"  he  wrote  a  long  letter  de 
clining  the  invitation. 

"  But  [he  added]  if  it  be  true  that  the  administration 
have  gone  into  po\ver  contrary  to  the  voice  of  the  nation, 
and  are  now  expecting,  by  means  of  this  power,  thus  ac 
quired,  to  mould  the  public  will  into  an  acquiescence 
with  their  authority,  then  is  the  issue  fairly  made  out  — 
shall  the  government  or  the  people  rule  ?  And  it  be 
comes  the  man  whom  the  people  shall  indicate  as  their 
rightful  representative  in  this  solemn  issue,  so  to  have 
acquitted  himself  that,  while  he  displaces  these  enemies 
of  liberty,  there  will  be  nothing  in  his  own  example  to 
operate  against  the  strength  and  durability  of  the  gov 
ernment." 

No  candidate  for  the  presidency  had  ever  held 
such  language.  Here  he  plainly  denounced  the  con 
stitutionally  elected  chief  magistrate  as  a  usurper, 
and  arraigned  him  and  the  members  of  his  adminis 
tration  as  "  these  enemies  of  liberty "  who  were 
using  the  power  of  the  government  to  dragoon  the 
public  will  into  acquiescence.  This  fierce  denunci 
ation  was  hurled  against  a  President  so  conscien 
tious  in  the  exercise  of  his  power  that,  among  the 
public  officers,  his  most  virulent  enemies  and  the 
most  enthusiastic  supporters  of  his  opponent  were 
as  safe  in  their  places  as  were  his  friends. 


278  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  last  session  of  the  Nineteenth  Congress, 
which  opened  in  December,  1826,  passed  over  with 
out  any  event  of  importance,  but  not  without  many 
demonstrations  of  "  the  bitter  and  rancorous  spirit 
of  the  opposition,"  which,  as  Adams  recorded, 
"  produced  during  the  late  session  of  Congress 
four  or  five  challenges  to  duels,  all  of  which,  how 
ever,  happily  ended  in  smoke  ;  "  and,  he  added, 
"  at  a  public  dinner  given  last  week  to  John  Ran 
dolph  of  Roanoke,  a  toast  was  given  directly  insti 
gating  assassination."  No  opportunity  was  lost 
for  defaming  the  administration.  A  fierce  attack 
was  made  on  Clay  for  having,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
power  as  Secretary  of  State,  made  some  changes 
in  the  selection  of  newspapers  for  the  publication 
of  the  laws. 

The  clamor  of  the  opposition  grew,  indeed,  so 
loud  that  people  not  specially  engaged  in  politics 
wondered  in  amazement  whether  the  Republic 
really  was  on  the  brink  of  destruction.  The  sedate 
Nilcs,  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  Con 
gress,  expressed  in  the  "  Register "  his  fear  that 
the  coming  presidential  election,  which  was  still  a 
year  and  a  half  ahead,  would  "  cause  as  much 
heat,  if  not  violence,  as  any  other  event  that  ever 
happened  in  this  country  ;  that  father  would  be 
arrayed  against  son,  and  son  against  father,  old 
friends  become  enemies,  and  social  intercourse  be 
cruelly  interrupted ; "  and  all  this  because  "  the 
resolution  to  put  up  or  put  down  individuals  swal 
lowed  up  every  consideration  of  right  and  of 
wrong." 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  279 

The  frenzy  to  which  politicians  wrought  them 
selves  up  was  sometimes  grotesque  in  its  manifes 
tations.  In  Virginia  it  became  known  that  John 
Tyler  had  written  a  letter  to  Clay  approving  his 
conduct  in  the  last  presidential  election  ;  where 
upon  the  "  Virginia  Jackson  Republican,"  a  news 
paper  published  at  Richmond,  broke  out  in  these 
exclamations  :  "  John  Tyler  identified  with  Henry 
Clay  !  We  are  all  amazement !  heartsick  !  !  chop- 
fallen  !  !  dumb  !  !  !  Mourn,  Virginia,  mourn  !  ! 
for  you,  too,  have  your  time-serving  aspirants  who 
press  forward  from  round  to  round  on  the  ladder 
of  political  promotion,  under  the  disguises  of  re 
publican  orthodoxy,  while  they  conceal  in  their 
bosoms  the  lurking  dagger,  with  which,  upon  the 
mature  conjuncture,  to  plunge  the  Goddess  of  Lib 
erty  to  the  heart."  So  John  Tyler  found  himself 
obliged  to  explain,  in  a  letter  several  columns  long, 
that  he  might  have  approved  of  Clay's  vote  for 
Adams  without  supporting  the  Adams  adminis 
tration. 

General  Floyd,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Virginia,  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents,  spoke  of 
"  times  like  these,  when  great  political  revolutions 
are  in  progress,"  and  told  his  hearers  that  they 
were  "  now  engaged  in  a  great  war,  -^—  a  war  of 
patronage  and  power  against  patriotism  and  the 
people."  He  fiercely  denounced  the  "  coalition  " 
which  had  put  Mr.  Adams  in  power,  and  now 
made  "  the  upper  part  of  Virginia  the  great  theatre 
S)f  its  intrigues;"  but  at  the  sains  time  he  informed 


280  HENRY   CLAY. 

his  friends  that  "  the  combinations  for  the  eleva 
tion  of  General  Jackson  were  nearly  complete.'1 
Martin  Van  Bur  en,  who  in  the  last  presidential 
election  had  been  the  great  leader  of  the  Craw 
ford  forces  in  New  York,  but  now,  discerning  in 
General  Jackson  the  coining  man,  was  traveling 
through  the  Southern  States  in  the  interest  of  this 
candidate,  wrote  mysteriously  to  some  gentlemen 
at  Raleigh,  who  had  invited  him  to  a  public  din 
ner  :  "  The  spirit  of  encroachment  has  assumed  a 
new  and  far  more  seductive  aspect,  and  can  only 
be  resisted  by  the  exercise  of  uncommon  virtues." 
Thus  the  leaders  of  the  Jackson  movement 
worked  busily  to  excite  the  popular  mind  with 
spectral  visions  of  unprecedented  corruption  pre 
vailing,  and  of  terrible  dangers  hang/ing  over  the 
country  ;  and  their  newspapers,  led  by  a  central 
organ  which  they  had  established  at  Washington, 
the  "  Telegraph,"  edited  by  Duff  Green,  day  after 
day  hurled  the  most  reckless  charges  of  profligacy 
and  abuse  of  power  at  the  administration.  They 
also  brought  the  organization  of  local  committees 
as  electioneering  machinery  to  a  perfection  never 
known  until  then,  and  these  committees  were  kept 
constantly  active  in  feeding  the  agitation.  Repeat 
ing,  by  the  press  and  in  speech,  without  cessation, 
the  cry  of  bargain  and  corruption,  and  usurpation 
of  power ;  never  withdrawing  a  charge,  even  if  ever 
so  conclusively  refuted,  but  answering  only  with 
new  accusations  equally  terrific,  —  they  gradually 
succeeded  in  making  a  great  many  well-meaning 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  281 

people  believe  that  the  administration  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  one  of  the  purest  and  most  con 
scientious  this  Republic  has  ever  had,  was  really 
a  sink  of  iniquity,  and  an  abomination  in  the  sight 
of  all  just  men ;  and  that,  if  such  a  dreadful  event 
as  the  reelection  of  Adams  should  happen,  it  would 
inevitably  be  the  end  of  liberty  and  republican  in 
stitutions  in  America.  Such  a  calamity  could  be 
prevented  only  by  the  election  of  the  "  old  hero," 
who,  having  once  been  "  cheated  out  of  the  presi 
dency  by  bargain  and  corruption,"  was  now  "justly 
entitled  to  the  office." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  the  adminis 
tration  were  not  entirely  idle.  The  President  did 
not,  indeed,  give  them  any  encouragement  in  the 
way  of  opening  places  for  them.  While  being 
constantly  accused  of  employing  the  power  and 
patronage  of  the  government  to  corrupt  public 
opinion,  and  to  dragoon  the  people  into  "  acquies 
cence,"  John  Quincy  Adams  kept  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way.  The  public  service  was  full  of  his  ene 
mies,  but  he  did  not  remove  one  of  them.  Even 
when  well  persuaded  that  McLean,  the  Postmas 
ter-General,  had  been  intriguing  against  him  and 
using  the  patronage  of  his  department  in  the  in 
terest  of  the  opposition,  and  Clay  with  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Cabinet  urged  McLean's  dismissal,  the 
President  refused,  because  he  thought  the  Post  Of 
fice  Department  was  on  the  whole  well  conducted. 
That  he  did  not  exclude  his  friends  from  place, 
was  perhaps  all  that  could  be  truthfully  said.  The 


282  HENRY  CLAY. 

administration  had,  however,  some  well  -  written 
newspapers  and  able  speakers  on  its  side.  They 
vigorously  denounced  the  recklessness  of  the  at 
tacks  made  upon  the  government,  and  spoke  of 
General  Jackson  as  an  illiterate  "  military  chief 
tain."  But  that  phrase  was  a  two-edged  weapon  ; 
for,  while  thinking  men  were  moved  to  the  reflec 
tion  that  military  chieftains  were  not  the  safest 
chiefs  of  republics,  the  masses  would  see  in  the 
military  chieftain  only  the  "  old  hero  "  who  had 
right  gallantly  "  whipped  the  Britishers  at  New 
Orleans."  The  Jackson  movement  thus  remained 
greatly  superior  in  aggressive  force  and  in  unscru- 
pulousiiess  of  denunciation. 

On  one  occasion,  however,  this  was  carried  to  a 
very  dangerous  length  by  Jackson  himself,  and 
Clay  apparently  scored  a  great  advantage.  It  is 
a  strange  story.  In  May,  1827,  there  appeared  in 
a  North  Carolina  newspaper  a  letter  from  Carter 
Beverly  of  Virginia,  concerning  a  visit  made  by 
him  to  General  Jackson  at  the  Hermitage.  The 
General  had  then  said,  before  a  large  company,  as 
the  letter  stated,  that,  before  the  election  of  Mr. 
Adams,  "  Mr.  Clay's  friends  made  a  proposition  to 
Jackson's  friends  that,  if  they  would  promise  on 
his  behalf  not  to  put  Mr.  Adams  in  the  seat  of 
Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends 
would  in  one  hour  make  Jackson  the  President," 
but  that  General  Jackson  had  indignantly  repelled 
the  proposition.  Beverly's  letter  created  much 
excitement.  His  veracity  being  challenged,  he 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  283 

fell  back  upon  General  Jackson,  and  the  General 
wrote  a  long  reply,  telling  the  story  somewhat 
differently.  According  to  his  account,  "  a  respect 
able  member  of  Congress  "  had  told  him  that,  as 
he  had  been  informed  by  Mr.  Clay's  friends,  Mr. 
Adams's  friends  had  held  out  the  secretaryship  of 
state  to  Mr.  Clay  as  a  price  for  his  influence,  say 
ing  that,  if  General  Jackson  were  elected  Presi 
dent,  Adams  would  be  continued  as  Secretary  of 
State,  that  then  "  there  would  be  no  room  for 
Kentucky,"  and  that,  if  General  Jackson  would 
promise  not  to  continue  Mr.  Adams  as  Secretary 
of  State,  they  would  put  an  end  to  the  presiden 
tial  contest  in  one  hour.  Then  he,  General  Jack 
son,  had  contemptuously  repelled  this  "  bargain 
and  corruption." 

When  this  letter  of  General  Jackson  appeared 
in  the  newspapers,  Clay  thought  he  had  at  last 
what  he  had  long  been  looking  for,  —  a  responsible 
sponsor  for  the  wretched  gossip.  He  forthwith,  in 
an  address  to  the  public,  made  an  unqualified  and 
indignant  denial  of  General  Jackson's  statements, 
and  called  for  Jackson's  proof.  In  a  very  spirited 
speech  delivered  at  a  dinner  given  him  by  his  old 
constituents  at  Lexington,  he  once  more  went  over 
the  whole  dreary  story,  and  in  the  most  pointed 
language  he  defied  General  Jackson  to  produce  his 
"respectable  member  of  Congress,"  or,  in  default 
thereof,  to  stand  before  the  American  people  as  a 
wilful  defamer.  The  General  could  not  evade  this, 
and  named  James  Buchanan  of  Pennsylvania,  as 


284  EP:NRY  CLAY. 

his  authority.  Now  Buchanan  had  to  rise  and 
explain.  Accordingly,  in  a  public  letter,  he  de 
nied  having  spoken  to  General  Jackson  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  Clay  or  his  friends  ;  he  had  said  nothing 
that  General  Jackson  could  have  so  understood  ; 
had  he  seen  reason  for  suspecting  that  the  General 
had  so  understood  him  at  the  time,  he  would  have 
set  himself  right  immediately.  He  even  suggested 
that  the  whole  story  of  the  attempted  bargain 
might  have  been  an  afterthought  on  the  part  of 
the  General.  Thus  Jackson's  only  witness  utterly 
failed  him.  Not  only  that,  but  Buchanan's  letter, 
together  with  the  correspondence  which  followed, 
left  ample  room  for  the  suspicion  that,  if  bargain 
ing  was  thought  of  and  attempted,  it  was  rather  in 
the  Jackson  camp  than  among  Clay's  friends. 

Clay  now  felt  as  if  he  had  the  slander  under 
his  heel.  To  make  its  annihilation  quite  com 
plete,  he  called  all  his  friends  upon  the  witness 
stand.  If  their  votes  in  Congress  had  been  trans 
ferred  to  Mr.  Adams  by  a  corrupt  bargain,  many 
persons  must  have  known  of  it.  One  after  another 
they  came  forward  in  public  letters,  declaring  that, 
while  the  election  was  pending,  they  had  never 
heard  of  any  attempt  at  bargaining  to  control  their 
votes  in  favor  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  that,  had  the 
attempt  been  made,  they  would  have  refused  to 
be  controlled.  All  these  things  were  elaborately 
summed  up  and  set  forth  in  another  address  to  the 
people  published  by  Clay  in  December. 

The  case  appeared  perfect.    Clay  and  his  friends 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  285 

were  jubilant.  Letters  of  congratulation  came 
pouring  in  upon  him.  Webster  was  lavish  in  his 
praise  of  Clay's  dinner  speech  at  Lexington,  and 
thought  General  Jackson  would  never  recover  from 
the  blow  he  had  received.  Was  it  possible  that,  in 
the  face  of  this  overwhelming  evidence,  General 
Jackson  should  refuse  to  retract  his  charges,  or 
that  anybody  in  the  United  States  should  still  be 
lieve  them  to  be  true,  and  have  the  hardihood  to 
repeat  them  ?  It  was.  General  Jackson  did  not 
retract.  His  whole  moral  sense  was  subjugated  by 
the  dogged  belief  that  a  man  who  seriously  dis 
agreed  with  him  must  necessarily  be  a  very  bad 
man,  capable  of  any  villainy,  and  must  be  put 
down.  He  attempted  no  reply  to  Buchanan's  let 
ter  and  Clay's  addresses,  but,  as  we  shall  see,  sev 
enteen  years  later,  at  a  most  critical  period  in 
Clay's  public  life,  when  Carter  Beverly,  in  a. 
regretful  letter  to  Clay,  had  retracted  all  asper-* 
sions  upon  him,  Jackson  repeated  the  slander  and  | 
reaffirmed  his  belief  in  it.  Neither  did  General 
Jackson's  friends  remain  silent ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  lustily  proclaimed  that  Buchanan's  letter  had 
proved  Jackson's  charge,  and  that  now  there  could 
be  no  further  doubt  about  it.  Among  the  masses 
of  the  people,  too,  who  did  not  read  long  expla 
nations  and  sift  evidence,  especially  in  Pennsylva 
nia  and  in  the  West  and  South,  the  bargain  and 
corruption  cry  remained  as  powerful  as  ever.  It 
became  with  them  a  sort  of  religious  belief  that,  in 
die  year  1824,  General  Jackson,  a  guileless  soldier, 


286  HENRY  CLAY. 

the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  savior  of  his 
country,  had  been  cheated  out  of  his  rights  by  two 
rascally  politicians,  Clay  and  Adams,  who  had  cor 
ruptly  usurped  the  highest  offices  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  plotted  to  destroy  the  liberties  of  the 
American  people. 

-  The  twentieth  Congress,  which  had  been  elected 
while  all  this  was  going  on,  and  which  assembled 
in  December,  1827,  had  a  majority  hostile  to  the 
administration  in  both  branches,  —  a  thing  which, 
as  Adams  dolefully  remarked,  had  never  occurred 
during  the  existence  of  the  government.  More 
over,  that  opposition  was  determined,  if  it  could, 
not  only  to  harass  the  administration,  but  utterly  to 
destroy  it  in  the  opinion  of  the  country.  The  only 
important  measure  of  general  legislation  passed  at 
this  session  was  the  famous  tariff  of  1828,  called 
the  "tariff  of  abominations,"  on  account  of  its 
peculiarly  incongruous  and  monstrous  provisions. 
Members  of  Congress  from  New  England,  where, 
since  1824,  much  capital  had  been  turned  into 
manufacturing  industry,  from  the  Middle  States, 
and  from  the  West,  no  matter  whether  Republi 
cans  or  Federalists,  Jackson  men  or  Adams  men, 
vied  with  one  another  in  raising  protective  duties, 
by  a  wild  log-rolling  process,  on  the  different  arti 
cles  in  which  their  constituents  were  respectively 
interested.  It  created  great  dissatisfaction  in  the 
planting  states,  and  more  will  be  said  of  it  when 
we  reach  the  nullification  movement. 

The  time  not  occupied  by  the  tariff  debate  was 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  287 

largely  employed  in  defaming  the  administration. 
In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  struggle  be 
tween  the  Jackson  men  and  the  adherents  of  the 
administration  grew  almost  ludicrously  passionate. 
The  opposition  were  agreed  as  to  the  general 
charge  that  the  administration  was  most  damna 
ble,  but  they  were  somewhat  embarrassed  as  to  the 
specifications.  One  drag  -  net  investigation  after 
another  was  ordered  to  help  them  out.  These  in 
quiries  brought  forth  nothing  of  consequence,  but 
that  circumstance  served  only  as  a  reason  for  re 
peating  the  charges  all  the  louder.  The  noise  of 
the  conflict  was  prodigious.  It  increased  in  vol 
ume,  and  the  mutual  criminations  and  recrimina 
tions  grew  in  rancor  and  unscrupulousness  as  the 
presidential  canvass  proceeded  after  the  adjourn 
ment  of  Congress. 

Until  then  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Clay  had 
mostly  contented  themselves  with  the  defense  of 
the  administration  from  the  accusations  which  were 
hurled  at  it  with  bewildering  violence  and  pro 
fusion.  But  gradually  they,  too,  warmed  up  to 
their  work,  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  campaign 
of  1828  became  one  of  the  most  furious  and  dis 
gusting  which  the  American  people  has  ever  wit 
nessed.  The  passions  were  excited  to  fever  heat, 
and  all  the  flood-gates  of  scurrility  opened.  The 
detractors  of  John  Quincy  Adams  not  only  as 
sailed  his  public  acts,  but  they  traduced  this  most 
scrupulously  correct  of  men  as  the  procurer  to  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  of  a  beautiful  American  girl. 


288  HENRY  CLAY. 

With  frantic  energy  the  speakers  and  newspapers 
of  the  Jackson  party  rang  the  changes  upon  the 
"  bargain  and  corruption "  charge,  and  Clay,  al 
though  not  himself  a  candidate,  was  glibly  reviled 
as  a  professional  gambler,  a  swindling  bankrupt,  an 
abandoned  profligate,  and  an  accomplice  of  Aaron 
Burr.  On  the  other  hand,  not  only  the  vulnerable 
points  of  Jackson's  public  career  were  denounced, 
but  also  his  private  character,  and  even  the  good 
name  of  his  wife,  were  ruthlessly  dragged  in  the 
dust.  Such  was  the  vile  war  of  detraction  which 
raged  till  the  closing  of  the  polls. 

Some  of  Mr.  Adams's  friends,  among  them 
Webster,  were  hopeful  to  the  last.  But  Adams 
himself,  and  with  him  the  cooler  heads  on  his  side, 
did  not  delude  themselves  with  flattering  expecta 
tions.  When  the  votes  were  counted,  it  turned  out 
that  Adams  had  carried  all  New  England,  with  the 
exception  of  one  electoral  vote  in  Maine ;  also 
New  Jersey,  Delaware,  four  ninths  of  the  vote  of 
New  York,  and  six  of  the  eleven  Maryland  votes. 
South  of  the  Potomac,  and  west  of  the  Alleghanies, 
Jackson  had  swept  everything  before  him.  In 
Pennsylvania  he  had  a  popular  majority  of  fifty 
thousand.  The  electoral  vote  for  Jackson  was  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight,  that  for  Adams  eighty- 
three.  All  the  Clay  states  of  1824  had  gone  to 
Jackson.  Calhoun  was  elected  Vice-President. 

The  overwhelming  defeat  of  John  Quincy  Adams 
has  by  some  been  attributed  to  the  stubborn  con 
sistency  with  which  he  refused  to  build  up  a  party 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  289 

for  himself  by  removing  his  enemies,  and  distribut 
ing  the  offices  of  the  government  among  his  polit 
ical  friends.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  civil  service 
reformer  of  our  days  would  say  that  President 
Adams  did  not  act  wisely,  nor  according  to  correct 
principles,  in  permitting  public  servants  to  take 
part  in  the  warfare  of  political  parties  with  as  little 
restraint  as  if  they  had  been  private  citizens ;  for 
whenever  public  officers  do  so,  their  official  power 
and  opportunities  are  almost  always  taken  advan 
tage  of  for  the  benefit  of  the  party,  endangering 
the  freedom  of  elections  as  well  as  the  integrity  of 
the  service.  But  this  is  a  conclusion  formed  in 
our  time,  when  the  abuses  growing  out  of  a  parti 
san  service  have  fully  developed  themselves  and 
demand  a  remedy,  which  was  not  then  the  case. 
Adams  simply  followed  the  traditions  of  the  first 
administrations.  Had  he  silenced  his  enemies  to 
gether  with  his  friends  in  office,  it  would  have 
benefited  him  in  the  canvass  very  little.  Neither 
could  the  use  of  patronage  as  a  weapon  in  the 
struggle  have  saved  him,  had  he  been  capable  of 
resorting  to  it.  Patronage  so  used  is  always  de 
moralizing,  but  it  can  have  decisive  effect  only  in 
quiet  times,  while  the  popular  mind  is  languid  and 
indifferent.  When  there  are  strong  currents  of 
popular  feeling  and  the  passions  are  aroused,  a 
shrewd  management  of  patronage,  although  it  may 
indeed  control  the  nomination  of  candidates  by 
packing  conventions,  will  not  decide  elections.  In 
1828  there  were  such  elementary  forces  to  encoun- 

19 


290  HENRY  CLAY. 

ter.  Not  only  had  the  Jackson  party  the  more 
efficient  organization  and  the  shrewder  managers, 
but  they  were  favored  by  a  peculiar  development 
in  the  condition  of  the  popular  mind. 

In  the  early  times  of  the  Republic  the  masses  of 
the  American  people  were,  owing  to  their  cir 
cumstances,  uneducated  and  ignorant,  and,  owing 
to  traditional  habit,  they  had  a  reverential  respect 
for  superiority  of  talent  and  breeding,  and  yielded 
readily  to  its  leadership.  Their  growing  prosper 
ity,  the  material  successes  achieved  by  them  in  the 
development  of  the  country,  strengthened  their 
confidence  in  themselves  ;  and  the  result  of  this 
widening  self-consciousness  was  the  triumph  of  the 
democratic  theory  of  government  in  the  election  of 
Jefferson.  Still  the  old  habit  of  readily  accepting 
the  leadership  of  superior  intelligence  and  educa 
tion  remained  sufficiently  strong  to  permit  the 
succession  of  several  presidents  taken  from  the 
ranks  of  professional  statesmen.  But  there  always 
comes  a  time  in  the  life  of  a  democracy  —  and 
it  is  a  critical  period  —  when  the  masses  grow 
impatient  of  all  pretensions  or  admissions  of  su 
periority  ;  when  a  vague  distrust  of  professional 
statesmanship,  of  trained  skill  in  the  conduct  of 
the  government,  seizes  upon  them,  and  makes  them 
easily  believe  that  those  who  possess  such  trained 
skill  will,  if  constantly  intrusted  with  the  manage 
ment  of  public  affairs,  take  some  sort  of  advantage 
of  those  less  trained ;  that,  after  all,  the  business  of 
governing  is  no  more  difficult  than  other  business; 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  291 

and  that  it  would  be  safer  to  put  into  the  highest 
places  men  more  like  themselves,  not  skilled  states 
men,  but  "  men  of  the  people." 

By  the  time  the  revolutionary  generation  of 
presidents  had  run  out,  —  that  is  to  say,  with  the 
close  of  Monroe's  second  administration,  —  large 
numbers  of  voters  in  the  United  States  had  reached 
that  state  of  mind.  Its  development  was  wonder 
fully  favored  by  the  "  bargain  and  corruption  " 
cry,  which,  after  the  election  of  Adams  in  1825, 
represented  "  the  people's  candidate  "  as  cheated 
out  of  his  right  to  the  presidency  by  a  conspiracy 
of  selfish  and  tricky  professional  politicians.  As 
this  cry  was  kept  resounding  all  over  the  coun 
try,  accompanied  with  stories  of  other  -dreadful 
encroachments  and  intrigues,  the  masses  were  im 
pressed  with  the  feeling  not  only  that  a  great 
wrong  had  been  done,  but  that  some  darkly  lurk 
ing  danger  was  threatening  their  own  rights  and 
liberties,  and  that  nothing  but  the  election  of  a 
man  of  the  people,  such  as  "  the  old  hero,"  could 
surely  save  the  Republic.  This  was  the  real./' 
strength  of  the  Jackson  movement.  It  is  a  sig 
nificant  fact  that  it  was  weakest  where  there  were 
the  most  schools,  and  that  it  gathered  its  greatest 
momentum  where  the  people  were  least  accustomed 
to  reading  and  study,  and  therefore  most  apt  to  be 
swayed  by  unreasoning  impressions. 

No  patronage,  no  machine  work,  could  have 
stemmed  this  tide.  No  man  endowed  with  all  the 
charms  of  personal  popularity  could  have  turned  it 


292  HENRY  CLAY. 

back.  But  of  all  men  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
the  least  fitted  for  such  a  task.  We  can  learn 
from  him  how  to  act  upon  lofty  principles,  and 
also  how  to  make  their  enforcement  thoroughly 
disagreeable.  He  possessed  in  the  highest  degree 
that  uprightness  which  leans  backward.  He  had 
a  horror  of  demagogy,  and,  lest  he  should  render 
himself  guilty  of  anything  akin  to  it,  he  would  but 
rarely  condescend  to  those  innocent  amenities  by 
which  the  good-will  of  others  may  be  conciliated. 
His  virtue  was  freezing  cold  of  touch,  and  forbid 
ding  in  its  looks.  Not  only  he  did  not  court,  but 
he  repelled  popularity.  When  convinced  of  being 
right  in  an  opinion,  he  would  make  its  expression 
as  uncompromising  and  aggressive  as  if  he  desired 
rather  to  irritate  than  to  persuade-  His  friends 
esteemed,  and  many  of  them  admired  him,  but 
their  devotion  and  zeal  were  measured  by  a  cold 
sense  of  duty.  To  the  eye  of  the  people  he  seemed 
so  distant  that  they  were  all  the  more  willing  to 
believe  ill  of  him.  With  such  a  standard-bearer 
such  a  contest  was  lost  as  soon  as  it  was  begun. 

Clay  tried  to  bear  the  defeat  with  composure. 
"  The  inauspicious  issue  of  the  election,"  he  wrote 
to  Niles,  "  has  shocked  me  less  than  I  feared  it 
would.  My  health  and  my  spirits,  too,  have  been 
better  since  the  event  was  known  than  they  were 
many  weeks  before."  The  hardest  blow  was  that 
even  his  beloved  Kentucky  had  refused  to  follow 
his  leadership,  and  had  joined  the  triumphal  pro 
cession  of  the  military  chieftain. 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  293 .._=. 

On  the  day  before  General  Jackson's  inaugu 
ration  Clay  put  his  resignation  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Adams,  and  thus  ended  his  career  as  Secretary 
of  State.  It  may,  on  the  whole,  be  called  a  very 
creditable  one,  although  its  failures  were  more  con 
spicuous  than  its  successes.  His  greatest  affair, 
that  of  the  Panama  Congress,  had  entirely  miscar-  A 
ried.  This,  however,  was  not  the  fault  of  his  man 
agement.  He  had  desired  to  confide  the  mission  to 
the  best  diplomatic  mind  in  America,  Albert  Gal- 
latin,  but  Gallatin,  after  some  consideration,  de 
clined.  John  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania,  of  whom 
we  have  already  heard  as  an  anti-slavery  man  in 
the  Missouri  struggle,  and  Richard  C.  Anderson 
of  Kentucky,  were  then  selected.  Owing  to  the 
long  delays  in  Congress,  the  envoys  did  not  start 
on  their  mission  until  early  in  the  summer  of 
1826.  Anderson  died  on  the  way.  In  his  place 
Joel  R.  Poinsett,  American  Minister  in  Mexico, 
was  instructed  to  attend  the  Congress.  When 
Sergeant  arrived  at  Panama,  the  Congress  had 
adjourned  with  a  resolution  to  meet  again  at  Ta- 
cubaya,  in  Mexico.  But  by  the  time  that  meeting 
was  to  be  held,  the  attention  of  our  southern  sis 
ter  republics  was  already  fully  engaged  by  internal 
discords  and  conflicts  The  meeting,  therefore, 
never  took  place,  and  Sergeant  returned  without 
ever  having  seen  the  Congress.  To  Clay  this  was 
a  deep  disappointment.  His  zeal  in  behalf  of  the 
Spanish  American  republics  had  been  generous  and 
ardent.  He  had  sincerely  believed  that  national 


294  HENRY   CLAY. 

independence  and  the  practice  of  free  institutions 
would  lift  those  populations  out  of  their  ignorance, 
superstition,  and  sloth,  and  develop  in  them  the 
moral  qualities  of  true  freemen.  He  had  battled 
for  their  cause,  and  clung  to  his  hopes  even  against 
the  light  of  better  information.  He  had  infused 
some  of  his  enthusiasm  into  Mr.  Adams  himself,  al 
though  the  cooler  judgment  of  the  President,  even 
in  his  warmest  recommendations  to  Congress,  al 
ways  kept  the  contingency  of  failure  in  view.  Clay 
had  seen  his  gorgeous  conception  of  a  grand  broth 
erhood  of  free  peoples  on  American  soil  almost 
realized,  as  he  thought,  by  the  convocation  of  the 
Panama  Council.  Then  the  pleasing  picture  van 
ished.  He  was  obliged  to  admit  to  himself  that  in 
the  conversation  of  1821,  concerning  the  southern 
republics,  Adams,  after  all,  had  been  right  ;  that 
free  government  cannot  be  established  by  mere 
revolutionary  decrees;  that  written  constitutions, 
in  order  to  last,  must  embody  the  ways  of  thinking 
and  the  character  of  the  people  ;  that  the  people  of 
the  thirteen  North  American  colonies  (to  whom  rev 
olution  and  national  independence  meant  not  the 
creation  of  freedom,  but  the  maintenance  of  liber 
ties  already  possessed,  enjoyed,  and  practiced,  the 
defense  of  principles  which  had  been  to  them  like 
mother  Is  milk)  were  an  essentially  different  people 
from  the  Spanish  Americans,  who  had  grown  up 
under  despotic  rule,  to  whom  liberty  was  a  new 
thing  they  did  not  know  what  to  do  with,  and  who 
lived  mostly  in  a  tropical  climate  where  the  suste- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  295 

nance  of  animal  man  requires  but  little  ingenuity 
and  exertion,  and  where  all  the  influences  of  nature 
favor  the  development  of  indolence  and  of  the  pas 
sions  rather  than  the  government  of  thrift,  reason, 
and  law. 

The  disappointment  was  indeed  painful,  and  he 
could  not  refrain  from  expressing  his  feelings  on  a 
notable  occasion.  In  1827  Bolivar  wrote  him  a 
formal  letter  complimenting  him  "  upon  his  bril 
liant  talents  and  ardent  love  of  liberty,"  adding : 
"  All  America,  Colombia,  and  myself  owe  your 
Excellency  our  purest  gratitude  for  the  incompar 
able  services  you  have  rendered  to  us  by  sustaining 
our  cause  with  a  sublime  enthusiasm."  Clay  an 
swered,  nearly  a  year  later,  in  chilling  phrase,  that 
the  interest  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in 
the  struggles  of  South  America  had  been  inspired 
by  the  hope  that  "  along  with  its  independence  would 
be  established  free  institutions,  insuring  all  the 
blessings  of  civil  liberty,"  an  object  to  the  accom 
plishment  of  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  still  anxiously  looking.  But,  lest  Bolivar 
might  fail  in  making  a  practical  application  of  these 
words,  Clay  added :  "  I  should  be  unworthy  of 
the  consideration  with  which  your  Excellency  hon 
ors  me,  if  I  did  not  on  this  occasion  state  that 
ambitious  designs  have  been  attributed  by  your 
enemies  to  your  Excellency,  which  have  created  in 
my  mind  great  solicitude.  They  have  cited  late 
events  in  Colombia  as  proofs  of  these  designs. 
But  I  cannot  allow  myself  to  believe  that  your  Ex- 


296  HENRY  CLAY. 

eellency  will  abandon  the  bright  and  glorious  path 
which  lies  plainly  before  you,  for  the  bloody  road 
on  which  the  vulgar  crowd  of  tyrants  and  military 
despots  have  so  often  trodden.  I  will  not  doubt 
that  your  Excellency  will  in  due  time  render  a  sat 
isfactory  explanation  to  Colombia  and  to  the  world 
of  the  parts  of  your  public  conduct  which  have  ex 
cited  any  distrust,"  and  so  on.  The  lecture  thus 
administered  by  the  American  statesman  to  the 
South  American  dictator  was  the  voice  of  sadly 
disappointed  expectations.  Clay  was  probably 
aware  that  Bolivar's  ambitions  were  by  no  means 
the  greatest  difficulty  threatening  the  Spanish 
American  republics. 

Another  disappointment  he  suffered  in  the  fail 
ure  of  an  effort  to  remedy  what  he  considered  the 
great  defect  in  the  Spanish  treaty  of  1819.  In 
March,  1827,  he  instructed  Poinsett,  the  American 
Minister  to  Mexico,  to  propose  the  purchase  of 
Texas.  But  the  attempt  came  to  nothing. 

In  his  commercial  diplomacy  Clay  followed  the 
ideas  of  reciprocity  generally  accepted  at  the  time, 
which  not  only  awarded  favor  for  favor,  but  also 
set  restriction  against  restriction.  This  practice  of 
fighting  restriction  with  equal  or  greater  restric 
tion  was  apt  to  work  well  enough  when  the  oppo 
site  party  was  the  one  less  able  to  endure  the  re 
striction,  and  therefore  obliged  by  its  necessities 
to  give  up  the  fight  quickly.  But  when  the  re 
strictions  were  long  maintained,  the  effect  was  sim 
ply  that  each  party  punished  its  own  commerce  in 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  297 

seeking  to  retaliate  upon  the  other.  This  practice 
played  a  great  part  in  the  transactions  taking  place 
in  and  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  concerning  the  colonial  trade.  The  tradi 
tional  policy  of  Great  Britain  was  to  keep  the 
trade  with  the  colonies  as  exclusively  as  possible 
in  the  hands  of  the  mother  country.  The  United 
States,  of  course,  desired  to  have  the  greatest  pos 
sible  freedom  of  trade  with  the  British  colonies, 
especially  those  in  America,  including  the  West 
India  islands.  Various  attempts  were  made  in 
that  direction,  but  without  success.  The  commer 
cial  conventions  of  1815  and  1818  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  had  concluded 
nothing  in  this  respect,  leaving  the  matter  to  be 
regulated  by  legislation  on  either  side.  The  result 
was  a  confusion  of  privileges,  conditions,  and  re 
strictions  most  perplexing  and  troublesome.  The 
desirability  of  a  clear  mutual  understanding  being 
keenly  felt,  negotiations  were  resumed.  In  July, 
1825,  Parliament  passed  an  act  offering  large 
privileges  with  regard  to  the  colonial  trade  on  con 
dition  of  complete  reciprocity,  the  acceptance  of 
the  conditional  offer  to  be  notified  to  the  British 
government  within  one  year.  Congress  neglected 
to  take  action  on  the  offer.  Meanwhile  Galla- 
tin,  upon  whom  the  government  was  apt  to  fall 
back  for  difficult  diplomatic  service,  had  been  ap 
pointed  Minister  to  England  in  the  place  of  Rufus 
King,  whose  health  had  failed.  When  Gallatin 
arrived  in  London  he  was  met  by  an  Order  in 


298  HENRY  CLAY. 

Council  issued  on  July  27,  1826,  prohibiting  all 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States 
and  the  British  West  Indies.  At  the  same  time 
Canning,  the  Foreign  Secretary,  who  was  fond  of 
treating  the  United  States  cavalierly,  informed  him 
that  all  further  negotiation  upon  this  subject  was 
declined.  A  lively  exchange  of  notes  followed,  in 
which  Gallatin  and  Clay  not  only  had  the  best  of 
the  argument,  but  excelled  by  pointed  retorts  given 
in  excellent  temper.  Another  session  of  Congress 
having  passed  without  action,  the  President,  in 
accordance  with  an  act  passed  in  1823,  issued  a 
proclamation  on  March  17,  1827,  declaring,  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States,  the  prohibition  of 
all  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  ports  from  which 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States  was  excluded. 
Soon  afterwards  Canning  died.  Lord  Goderich 
rose  to  the  post  of  Prime  Minister,  and  Gallatin 
succeeded  in  making  a  treaty  keeping  the  conven 
tion  of  1815  indefinitely  in  force  subject  to  one 
year's  notice.  Thus,  while  the  controversy  had  not 
been  brought  to  the  desired  conclusion,  at  least 
nothing  was  lost ;  the  dignity  of  the  United  States 
was  maintained ;  more  dangerous  complications 
were  avoided ;  and  the  way  was  prepared  for  more 
satisfactory  arrangements  in  the  future.  But  it 
was,  in  popular  opinion,  a  failure  after  all,  and, 
the  temporary  cutting  off  of  the  West  India  trade 
being  severely  felt,  naturally  told  against  the  ad 
ministration.  It  was  with  regard  to  this  transac* 
tion  that,  as  we  shall  see,  Martin  Van  Buren,  when 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  299 

General  Jackson's  Secretary  of  State,  gave  those 
famous  instructions  which  cost  him  the  consent  of 
the  Senate  to  his  nomination  as  Minister  to  Eng 
land. 

On  the  whole,  there  was  evidence  of  a  liberal, 
progressive  spirit  in  Clay's  diplomatic  transactions ; 
and  it  gave  him  much  pleasure  to  say  that,  during 
the  period  when  he  was  Secretary  of  State,  "  more 
treaties  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  na 
tions  had  been  actually  signed  than  had  been  dur 
ing  the  thirty-six  years  of  the  existence  of  the  pres 
ent  Constitution."  He  concluded  treaties  of  amity, 
commerce,  and  navigation  with  Central  America, 
Prussia,  Denmark,  the  Hanseatic  Republics,  Swe 
den  and  Norway,  and  Brazil,  and  a  boundary  treaty 
with  Mexico.  With  Great  Britain  he  was  least 
successful  in  bringing  matters  in  controversy  to 
a  definite  and  quite  satisfactory  conclusion.  So  a 
treaty  concerning  the  disputed  territory  on  the 
northwest  coast,  the  Columbia  country,  provided 
only  for  an  extension  of  the  joint  occupation 
agreed  upon  in  the  treaty  of  1818,  thus  merely 
adjourning  a  difficulty,  while  by  another  treaty  the 
northeastern  boundary  question  was  referred  to  a 
friendly  sovereign  or  state,  to  be  agreed  upon,  for 
arbitration. 

The  one  disputed  question  between  Great  Brit 
ain  and  the  United  States  which  he  did  bring  to  a 
conclusion  was  one  left  behind  by  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  —  the  indemnity  for  slaves  carried  off  by 
the  British  forces  in  the  war  of  1812.  After  seven 

f  OF   TT?R 

( 


300  HENRY  CLAY. 

years  of  fruitless  negotiation,  the  matter  had  been 
referred  to  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia.  He 
decided  in  favor  of  the  claim.  But  the  British 
government  raised  new  objections,  and  a  second 
negotiation  followed.  Great  Britain  finally  agreed 
to  pay  a  lump  sum  for  the  value  of  the  slaves,  and 
payment  was  made  in  1827.  Thus  the  adminis 
tration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  achieved,  diplo 
matically,  one  of  its  most  decided  successes  in  a 
matter  in  which  its  sympathies  were  least  enlisted. 
But  a  kindred  question  turned  up  in  another 
form  still  more  unsympathetic.  On  May  10,  1828, 
the  House  of  Representatives  passed  a  resolution 
asking  the  President  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
British  government  concerning  the  surrender  of 
slaves  taking  refuge  in  Canada.  Clay  accordingly 
instructed  Gallatin  to  propose  to  the  British  gov 
ernment  a  stipulation,  first,  "  for  the  mutual  sur 
render  of  deserters  from  the  military  and  naval 
service  and  from  the  merchant  service  of  the  two 
countries  ;  "  and,  second,  "  for  a  mutual  surrender 
of  all  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  under  the 
laws  of  one  party  who  escape  into  the  territories  of 
the  other."  The  first  proposition  was  evidently 
to  serve  only  as  a  prop  to  the  second;  for,  as  the 
instruction  argued,  while  Great  Britain  had  little 
interest  in  the  mutual  surrender  of  fugitive  slaves, 
she  had  much  interest  in  the  mutual  surrender  of 
military  or  naval  deserters.  The  British  govern 
ment,  however,  as  was  to  be  expected,  replied 
promptly  that  it  "  was  utterly  impossible  for  them 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  301 

to  agree  to  a  stipulation  for  the  surrender  of  fugi 
tive  slaves." 

The  negotiation  presents  a  melancholy  spectacle : 
a  republic  offering  to  surrender  deserters  from  the 
army  or  navy  of  a  monarchical  power,  if  that  power 
would  agree  to  surrender  slaves  escaped  from  their 
owners  in  that  republic !  And  this  happened  un 
der  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams; 
the  instructions  were  signed  by  Henry  Clay,  and 
the  proposition  was  laid  before  the  British  govern 
ment  by  Albert  Gallatin  !  It  is  true  that  in  Clay's 
despatches  on  this  subject  we  find  nothing  of  his 
accustomed  strength  of  statement  and  fervor  of 
reasoning.  Neither  did  there  appear  anything  like 
zeal  in  Gallatin's  presentation  of  the  matter.  It 
was  a  mere  perfunctory  "  going  through  the  mo 
tions,"  as  if  in  expectation  of  a  not  unwelcome 
failure.  But  even  as  such,  it  is  a  sorry  page  of 
history  which  we  should  gladly  miss.  Slavery  was 
a  hard  taskmaster  to  the  government  of  this  proud 
American  Republic. 

It  would  not  be  just  to  assume  that  a  man  who 
had  grown  up  in  the  anti-slavery  school  of  the  rev 
olutionary  period,  and  whose  first  effort  on  the 
political  field  was  made  in  behalf  of  emancipation, 
would  lend  himself  without  reluctance  to  such 
transactions,  unless  his  conscience  had  become 
completely  debauched  or  his  opinions  thoroughly 
changed.  Clay  had  remained  essentially  different, 
in  his  ways  of  thinking  and  feeling,  from  the  or 
dinary  pro-slavery  man.  That  nervous,  sleepless, 


302  HENRY   CLAY. 

instinctive  watchfulness  for  the  safety  of  the  pecu- 
liar  institution,  which  characterized  the  orthodox 
slave-holder,  was  entirely  foreign  to  him.  He  had 
to  be  told  what  the  interests  of  slavery  demanded, 
in  order  to  see  and  feel  its  needs.  The  original 
anti-slavery  spirit  would  again  and  again  inspire 
his  impulses  and  break  out  in  his  utterances.  We 
remember  how  he  praised  the  Spanish  American 
republics  for  having  abolished  slavery.  In  his 
great  "  American  System  "  speech  he  had  argued 
for  the  superior  claims  of  free  labor  as  against 
those  of  "  servile  labor."  He  was  scarcely  seated 
in  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  when,  in  April, 
1825,  as  Mr.  Adams  recorded,  he  expressed  the 
opinion  that  "the  independence  of  Hayti  must 
shortly  be  recognized,"  -  —  an  idea  most  horrible  to 
the  American  slave-holder.  When  he  eagerly  ac 
cepted  the  invitation  to  the  Panama  Congress,  the 
association  with  new  states  that  had  liberated  then- 
slaves,  and  counted  negroes  and  mulattoes  among 
their  generals  and  legislators,  had  nothing  alarm 
ing  to  him.  Little  more  than  a  year  before  he  in 
structed  Gallatin  to  ask  of  Great  Britain  the  sur 
render  of  fugitive  slaves  from  Canada,  he  had 
made  one  of  the  most  striking  demonstrations  of 
his  genuine  feeling  at  a  meeting  of  the  African 
Colonization  Society,  which  is  worthy  of  special 
attention. 

That  society  had  been  organized  in  1816,  with 
the  object  of  transporting  free  negroes  to  Africa  and 
of  colonizing  them  there.  It  was  in  the  main  com- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  303 

posed  of  two  elements,  —  pro-slavery  men,  even  of 
the  extreme  type  of  John  Randolph,  who  favored 
the  removal  of  free  negroes  from  this  country,  be 
cause  they  considered  them  a  dangerous  element,  a 
"pest,"  in  slave  -  holding  communities;  and  phi 
lanthropists,  some  of  whom  sincerely  believed  that 
the  exportation  of  colored  people  on  a  grand  scale 
was  possible,  and  would  ultimately  result  in  the 
extinguishment  of  slavery,  while  others  contented 
themselves  with  a  vague  impression  that  some  good 
might  be  done  by  it,  and  used  it  as  a  convenient 
excuse  for  not  doing  anything  more  efficacious. 

Clay  was  one  of  the  sincere  believers  in  the  col 
onization  scheme  as  practicable  on  a  grand  scale, 
and  as  an  aid  to  gradual  emancipation.  In  his 
speech  before  the  Colonization  Society  in  January, 
1827,  he  tried  to  prove  —  and  he  had  armed  him 
self  for  the  task  with  an  arsenal  of  figures  —  that 
it  was  "  not  beyond  the  ability  of  the  country  "  to 
export  and  colonize  a  sufficient  number  of  negroes 
to  effect  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  colored  popula 
tion  in  this  country,  and  thus  by  degrees  to  eradi 
cate  slavery,  or  at  least  to  neutralize  its  dangerous 
effects.  We  know  now  that  these  sanguine  calcu 
lations  were  entirely  delusive  ;  neither  did  his  pre 
diction  come  true,  that  the  free  negro  "pests," 
when  colonized  in  Africa,  would  prove  the  most 
effective  missionaries  of  civilization  on  that  conti 
nent.  But  he  believed  in  all  this ;  to  his  mind  the 
colonization  scheme  was  an  anti-slavery  agency,  and 
it  was  characteristic  of  his  feelings  when  he  ex 
claimed  :  — 


304  HENRY   CLAY. 

*'If  I  could  be  instrumental  in  eradicating  this  deepest 
stain  upon  the  character  of  our  country,  and  removing 
all  cause  of  reproach  on  account  of  it  by  foreign  nations  ; 
if  I  could  only  be  instrumental  in  ridding  of  this  foul 
blot  that  revered  state  which  gave  me  birth,  or  that  not 
less  beloved  state  which  kindly  adopted  me  as  her  son, 
I  would  not  exchange  the  proud  satisfaction  which  I 
should  enjoy  for  the  honor  of  all  the  triumphs  ever 
decreed  to  the  most  successful  conqueror." 

We  might  almost  imagine  we  heard  the  voice  of 
an  apostle  of  "  abolition  "  in  his  reply  to  the  charge 
that  the  Colonization  Society  was  "  doing  mischief 
by  the  agitation  of  this  question."  These  were  his 
words,  spoken  in  his  most  solemn  tone  :  — 

"  What  would  they  who  thus  reproach  us  have  done  ? 
If  they  would  repress  all  tendency  toward  liberty  and 
ultimate  emancipation,  they  must  do  more  than  put  down 
the  benevolent  efforts  of  this  society.  They  must  go 
back  to  the  era  of  our  liberty  and  independence,  and 
muzzle  the  cannon  which  thunder  its  annual  joyous  re 
turn.  They  must  revive  the  slave  -  trade  with  all  its 
train  of  atrocities.  They  must  suppress  the  workings  of 
British  philanthropy,  seeking  to  meliorate  the  condition 
of  the  unfortunate  West  Indian  slaves.  They  must  arrest 
the  career  of  South  American  deliverance  from  thraldom. 
They  must  blow  out  the  moral  lights  around  us,  and  ex 
tinguish  that  greatest  torch  of  all,  which  America  presents 
to  a  benighted  world,  pointing  the  way  to  their  rights, 
their  liberties,  and  their  happiness.  And  when  they 
have  achieved  all  these  purposes,  the  work  will  yet  be 
incomplete.  They  must  penetrate  the  human  soul,  and 
eradicate  the  light  of  reason  and  the  love  of  liberty 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  305 

Then,  and  riot  till  then,  when  universal  darkness  and 
despair  prevail,  can  you  perpetuate  slavery,  and  repress 
all  sympathies,  and  all  human  and  benevolent  efforts 
among  freemen,  in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  portion  of  our 
race  doomed  to  bondage." 

This,  no  doubt,  was  Henry  Clay  the  man,  speak 
ing  the  language  of  his  heart,  and  he  spoke  it,  too, 
at  a  time  when  he  must  have  known  that  the  slave- 
holding  interest  was  growing  very  sensitive,  and 
that  its  distrust  and  disfavor  might  become  fatal  to 
all  his  ambitions  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
Knowing  this,  he  said  things  which  might  have 
come  from  the  most  uncompromising  and  defiant 
enemy  of  slavery.  Yet  this  was  the  same  man 
who  had  helped  to  strengthen  the  law  for  the  re 
covery  of  fugitive  slaves  ;  who  had  opposed  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  new  states ;  who  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Adams  administration  had  given 
the  British  government  to  understand  that  further 
negotiations  for  common  action  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave-trade  would  be  useless,  as  the  Senate 
would  not  confirm  such  treaties  ;  who,  after  having 
made  that  anti-slavery  speech,  would  lend  himself 
to  a  negotiation  with  a  foreign  government  for  the 
mutual  surrender  of  fugitive  slaves  and  military 
and  naval  deserters  ;  who  would,  at  a  later  period, 
vehemently  denounce  the  abolitionists,  again  op 
pose  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  new  territories, 
again  strengthen  the  fugitive  -  slave  law,  while  in 
the  intervals  repeating  his  denunciations  of  slavery, 
and  again  declaring  himself  in  favor  of  gradual 
emancipation. 


806  HENRY  CLAY. 

This  contrast  between  expression  of  feeling  on 
the  one  side,  and  action  on  the  other,  was  incom 
prehensible  to  the  abolitionists,  who,  after  the 
Missouri  struggle,  began  to  make  themselves  felt 
by  agitating,  with  constantly  increasing  zeal,  the 
duty  of  instantly  overthrowing  slavery  on  moral 
grounds.  It  is  not  easily  understood  by  our  gen 
eration,  who  look  back  upon  slavery  as  a  moral 
abnormity  in  this  age,  and  as  the  easily  discernible 
cause  of  great  conflicts  and  calamities,  which  it 
would  have  been  best  to  attack  and  extinguish,  the 
earlier  the  better.  We  can  only  with  difficulty 
imagine  the  thoughts  and  emotions  of  men  of  that 
period,  who,  while  at  heart  recognizing  slavery  as 
a  wrong  and  a  curse,  yet  had  some  of  that  feeling 
expressed  by  Patrick  Henry,  in  his  remarkable 
letter  of  1773,  —  who  thought  that  the  abolition 
of  the  great  evil,  while  sure  finally  to  come,  would 
still  be  impossible  for  a  considerable  period,  and 
that  in  the  mean  time,  while  slavery  legally  existed, 
it  must  be  protected  in  its  rights  and  interests 
against  outside  interference,  and  especially  against 
all  commotions  which  might  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  community.  We  can  now  scarcely  appreciate 
the  dread  of  the  consequences  of  sudden  emanci 
pation,  the  constitutional  scruples,  the  nervous 
anxiety  about  the  threatened  Union,  and  the  vague 
belief  in  the  efficacy  of  compromises  and  pallia 
tives,  which  animated  statesmen  of  Clay's  way  of 
thinking  and  feeling.  It  is  characteristic  of  that 
period,  that  even  a  man  of  John  Quincy  Adams's 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  307 

stamp,  who  was  not  under  any  pro-slavery  influ 
ence  at  home,  and  all  whose  instincts  and  impulses 
were  against  slavery,  permitted  that  negotiation 
with  Great  Britain  about  the  surrender  of  fugitive 
slaves  to  go  on  under  his  presidential  responsi 
bility,  without  mentioning  it  by  a  single  word  in 
his  journal  as  a  matter  of  importance.  Less  sur 
prising  appears  such  conduct  in  Clay,  who  was  con 
stantly  worked  upon  by  the  interests  and  anxieties 
of  the  slave-holding  community  in  which  he  had 
his  home,  and  who  was  a  natural  compromiser,  be 
cause  his  very  nature  was  a  compromise. 

His  four  years'  service  as  Secretary  of  State 
formed  on  the  whole  an  unhappy  period  in  Clay's 
life.  Although  many  of  his  state  papers  testify 
by  their  vigor  and  brilliancy  to  the  zest  with  which 
they  were  worked  out,  —  even  the  cool-headed  Gal- 
latin  recognized  that  Clay  had  "  vastly  improved 
since  1814,"  —  yet  the  office  labor,  with  its  con 
stant  confinement,  grew  irksome  to  him.  Here  was 
a  lion  in  a  cage.  His  health  suffered  seriously. 
He  seemed  to  be  in  danger  of  paralysis,  and  several 
times  he  himself  became  so  alarmed  that  he  could 
only  with  difficulty  be  persuaded  by  President 
Adams  to  remain  in  office.  It  was  believed  by  his 
friends,  and  it  is  very  probable,  that  the  war  of 
vilification  waged  against  him  had  something  to  do 
with  his  physical  ailment.  There  is  abundance  of 
evidence  to  prove  that  he  felt  deeply  the  assaults 
upon  his  character.  The  mere  fact  that  anybody 
dare  to  represent  him  as  capable  of  dishonor- 


308  HENRY  CLAY. 

able  practices  is  a  stinging  humiliation  to  a  proud 
man.  There  is  refuge  in  contempt,  but  also  the 
necessity  of  despising  any  one  is  painful  to  a  gen 
erous  nature. 

Moreover  the  feeling  grew  upon  him  that  he  had 
after  all  made  a  great  mistake  in  accepting  the 
secretaryship  of  state  in  the  Adams  administra 
tion.  He  became  painfully  aware  that  this  accept" 
ance  had  given  color  to  the  "  bargain  and  corrup  - 
tion  "  charge.  It  kept  him  busy  year  after  year, 
in  dreary  iteration,  at  the  humiliating  task  of  prov 
ing  that  he  was  an  honest  man  ;  while,  had  he  not 
accepted,  he  might  have  remained  in  Congress,  the 
most  formidable  power  in  debate,  leading  a  host 
of  enthusiastic  friends,  and  defying  his  enemies  to 
meet  him  face  to  face.  Thus  for  the  secretaryship 
of  state  he  felt  that  he  had  given  up  his  active 
leadership  on  the  field  where  he  was  strongest  ; 
and  that  secretaryship,  far  from  being  to  him  a 
stepping-stone  to  the  presidency,  had  become  the 
most  serious  stumbling-block  in  his  way. 

The  most  agreeable  feature  of  Clay's  official 
life,  aside  from  his  uncommon  popularity  with  the 
diplomatic  corps,  consisted  in  his  personal  relations 
with  Mr.  Adams.  Their  daily  intercourse  sup 
planted  the  prejudices,  which  formerly  had  pre 
vailed  between  them,  with  a  constantly  growing 
esteem  and  something  like  friendship.  In  1828 
Clay  said  of  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  Crawford :  "  I 
had  fears  of  Mr.  Adams's  temper  and  disposition, 
but  I  must  say  that  they  have  not  been  realized. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  309 

and  I  have  found  in  him,  since  I  have  been  as 
sociated  with  him  in  the  executive  government,  as 
little  to  censure  or  condemn  as  I  could  have  ex 
pected  in  any  man."  With  chivalrous  loyalty 
Clay  stood  by  his  chief,  and  Adams  gave  him  his 
full  confidence.  Adams's  Diary  does  not  mention 
a  single  serious  difference  of  opinion  as  having  in 
any  manner  clouded  his  relationship  with  the  Secre 
tary  during  the  four  years  of  their  official  connec 
tion.  On  several  occasions,  when  Clay's  ill  health 
seemed  to  make  his  resignation  necessary,  Adams 
with  unusal  warmth  of  feeling  expressed  the  high 
value  he  put  upon  Clay's  services,  assuring  him 
that  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  fill  his  place, 
and  earnestly  trying  to  dissuade  him  from  his  pur 
pose.  Toward  the  close  of  his  presidential  term, 
Adams  offered  Clay  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  which  Clay  declined.  John  Quincy 
Adams  probably  never  spoke  with  more  fervor  of 
any  public  man  than  he  spoke  of  Clay  shortly 
after  the  close  of  his  administration,  in  answer  to 
an  address  of  a  committee  of  citizens  of  New  Jer 
sey  :  — 

"  Upon  him  the  foulest  slanders  have  been  showered. 
The  department  of  state  itself  was  a  station  which,  by 
its  bestowal,  could  confer  neither  profit  nor  honor  upon 
him,  but  upon  which  he  has  shed  unfading  honor  by  the 
manner  in  which  he  has  discharged  its  duties.  Preju 
dice  and  passion  have  charged  him  with  obtaining  that 
office  by  bargain  and  corruption.  Before  you,  my  fel 
low-citizens,  in  the  presence  of  our  country  and  Heaven, 


310  HENRY  CLAY. 

I  pronounce  that  charge  totally  unfounded.  As  to  my 
motives  for  tendering  him  the  Department  of  State 
when  I  did,  let  the  man  who  questions  them  come  for 
ward.  Let  him  look  around  among  the  statesmen  and 
legislators  of  the  nation  and  of  that  day.  Let  him  then 
select  and  name  the  man  whom,  by  his  preeminent 
talents,  by  his  splendid  services,  by  his  ardent  patriot 
ism,  by  his  all-embracing  public  spirit,  by  his  fervid  elo 
quence  in  behalf  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  mankind, 
by  his  long  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  Union,  foreign 
and  domestic,  a  President  of  the  United  States,  intent 
only  upon  the  honor  and  welfare  of  his  country,  ought  to 
have  preferred  to  Henry  Clay." 

These  warm  words  did  honor  to  the  man  who 
spoke  them,  but  the  "  bargain  and  corruption  "  cry 
went  on  nevertheless. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  after  his  crushing  defeat, 
took  leave  of  the  presidency  with  the  feeling  that 
"  the  sun  of  his  public  life  had  set  in  the  deepest 
gloom."  He  thought  of  nothing  but  final  retire 
ment,  not  anticipating  that  the  most  glorious  part 
of  his  career  was  still  in  store  for  him.  Clay,  too, 
spoke  of  retirement.  But  at  the  same  time  he 
asked  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  whether 
he  thought  that,  at  the  next  presidential  election, 
in  1832,  the  Eastern  States  could  be  counted  upon 
for  him,  Henry  Clay;  he  would  then  feel  sure  of 
the  Western.  Here  was  the  old  ambition,  ever 
dominant  and  restless,  bound  to  drive  him  into 
new  struggles,  and  to  bring  upon  him  new  disap' 
pointments. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   PARTY   CHIEFS. 

UNDEK  Monroe's  presidency  the  old  Federal 
party  had  indeed  maintained  a  local  organization 
here  and  there,  and  filled  a  few  seats  in  Congress, 
but  it  had  even  then  become  extinct  as  a  national 
organization.  The  Republicans  were  in  virtually 
undisputed  possession  of  the  government.  The 
"  era  of  good  feeling  "  abounded  in  personal  bick 
erings,  jealousies  of  cliques,  conflicts  of  ambition, 
and  also  controversies  on  matters  of  public  interest, 
but  there  was  no  gathering  of  forces  in  opposite 
camps  on  a  great  scale.  In  the  presidential  canvass 
of  1824  all  the  candidates  were  recognized  as  Re 
publicans.  It  was  the  election  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  the  House  of  Representatives  that 
brought  about  the  first  lasting  schism  in  the  Re 
publican  ranks.  In  its  beginning  this  schism  ap 
peared  to  bear  an  essentially  personal  character. 
The  friends  of  the  defeated  candidates,  of  Jackson 
and  Crawford,  with  the  following  of  Calhoun, 
banded  together  against  the  friends  of  Adams  and 
Clay.  Their  original  rallying  cry  was  that  Jack 
son  had  been  wronged,  and  that  the  Adams-Clay 
administration  must  be  broken  down  in  any  event, 


312  HENRY     CLAY. 

whatever  policy  it  might  follow.  The  division 
was  simply  between  Jackson  men  on  one  side,  and 
Adams  and  Clay  men  on  the  other. 

The  two  prominent  questions  of  the  time,  that  of 
the  tariff  and  that  of  internal  improvements,  were 
not  then  in  issue  between  them.  There  were 
strenuous  advocates  of  a  high  tariff  and  of  inter 
nal  improvements  on  both  sides.  Jackson  himself 
had  in  his  Coleman  letter  spoken  the  language  of 
a  protectionist,  and  he  had  voted  for  several  inter 
nal  improvement  bills  while  he  was  in  the  Senate. 
In  several  states  he  had  been  voted  for  as  a  firm 
friend  of  those  two  policies.  Even  during  the 
whole  of  Adams's  administration,  while  a  furious 
opposition  was  carried  on  against  it,  there  con 
tinued  to  be  much  diversity  of  opinion  among  its 
assailants  on  these  subjects.  In  fact  the  tariff  of 
1828,  the  "  tariff  of  abominations,"  was  passed  by 
Congress,  and  the  strict  construction  principles 
maintained  by  Madison  and  Monroe  concerning 
internal  improvements  suffered  one  defeat  after 
another,  while  both  Houses  were  controlled  by  ma 
jorities  hostile  to  Adams  and  Clay.  The  question 
of  the  National  Bank  was  not  touched  in  the  cam 
paign  of  1824,  nor  wrhile  Adams  was  President ; 
nor  was  there,  at  the  time  the  opposition  started, 
any  other  defined  principle  or  public  interest  con 
spicuously  at  issue  between  him  and  his  opponents  ; 
for  the  inaugural  address,  and  the  messages  in 
which  Adams  took  such  advanced  positions  in  the 
direction  of  paternal  government,  did  not  precede, 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  313 

but  followed,  the  break  destined  to  become  a  last 
ing  one. 

But  it  is  also  true  that,  while  the  Jackson  party 
taken  as  a  whole  was,  at  the  beginning,  in  a  chaotic 
state  as  to  political  principles  and  aims,  a  large 
and  important  Southern  fraction  of  it  gradually 
rallied  upon  something  like  a  fixed  programme. 
At  a  former  period  Southern  men  had  been  among 
the  foremost  advocates  of  a  protective  tariff  and 
internal  improvements.  We  have  seen  Calhoun  al 
most  contesting  Clay's  leadership  as  to  those  ob 
jects.  The  governmental  power  required,  Southern 
ers  could  at  that  time  contemplate  without  terror. 
But  a  great  change  of  feeling  came  over  many  of 
them.  The  struggle  about  the  admission  of  Mis 
souri  had  produced  no  open  and  lasting  party  di 
visions,  but  it  had  left  in  the  Southern  mind  a 
lurking  sense  of  danger.  The  slave-holding  in 
terest  gradually  came  to  understand  that  the  whole 
drift  of  sentiment  outside  of  the  slave-holding  com 
munities  was  decidedly  hostile  to  the  peculiar  in 
stitution  ;  that  a  wall  must  be  built  around  slavery 
for  its  protection ;  that  state  sovereignty  and  the 
strictest  construction  of  the  Constitution  concerning 
the  functions  and  powers  of  the  general  govern 
ment  were  the  bulwark  of  its  safety  ;  that  any 
sort  of  interference  with  the  home  affairs  of  the 
Slave  States,  even  in  the  way  of  internal  improve 
ment,  would  tend  to  undermine  that  bulwark  ;  that 
the  Slave  States,  owing  to  their  system  of  labor, 
must  remain  purely  agricultural  communities  ;  that 


314  HENRY  CLAY. 

anything  enhancing  the  price  of  those  things  which 
the  agriculturists  had  to  buy  would  be  injurious 
to  the  planter,  and  that,  therefore,  a  protective 
tariff  raising  the  prices  of  manufactured  goods 
must  be  rejected  as  hostile  to  the  interests  of  the 
South. 

This  was  a  tangible  and  consistent  policy.  The 
spirit  animating  it  early  found  an  opportunity  for 
asserting  itself  by  a  partisan  demonstration  in  the 
extreme  position  taken  by  President  Adams  in  his 
first  official  utterances  concerning  the  necessary 
functions  of  the  national  government.  These  ut 
terances,  which  gave  the  Jackson  men  a  welcome 
occasion  for  raising  against  Adams  the  cry  of 
Federalism,  startled  many  old  Kepublicans  of  the 
Jeffersonian  school.  This  was  especially  the  case 
in  the  South.  The  reason  was  not  that  the  North 
had  been  less  attached  than  the  South  to  the  cause 
of  local  self-government.  On  the  contrary,  home 
rule  in  its  democratic  form  was  more  perfectly  de 
veloped  and  more  heartily  cherished  in  New  Eng 
land,  with  her  town-meeting  system,  than  in  the 
South,  where  not  only  a  large  part  of  the  popula 
tion,  the  negroes,  were  absolutely  excluded  from 
all  participation  in  self-government,  but  where  the 
aristocratic  class  of  slave-holders  enjoyed  immense 
advantages  of  political  influence  over  the  rest  of 
the  whites.  But  in  New  England,  and  in  the 
North  generally,  local  self-government  was  felt  to 
be  perfectly  compatible  with  a  vigorous  national 
authority,  while  at  the  South  there  was  constant 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  315 

fear  of  encroachment,  and  the  assertion  of  the 
home  rule  principle  was,  therefore,  mainly  directed 
against  the  national  power.  That  the  national 
government  had  a  natural  tendency  hostile  to  local 
self-government  was  mainly  a  Southern  idea. 

The  Southern  interest,  knowing  what  it  wanted, 
compact,  vigilant,  and  represented  by  able  politi 
cians,  was  naturally  destined  to  become  the  lead 
ing  force  in  that  aggregation  of  political  elements 
which,  beginning  in  a  mere  wild  opposition  to  the 
Adams  administration,  hardened  into  a  political 
party.  An  extensive  electioneering  machinery, 
which  was  skillfully  organized,  and  used  with  great 
effect  in  the  four  years'  campaign,  beginning  with 
the  election  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and  ending 
with  Jackson's  election  in  1828,  continued  to  form 
one  of  its  distinguishing  features. 

The  followers  of  Adams  and  Clay  were,  by  the 
'necessities  of  their  situation,  driven  to  organize  on 
their  side.  Having  been  the  regular  administra 
tion  party  during  Adams's  presidency,  they  became 
the  regular  opposition  after  Jackson's  inaugura 
tion.  A  majority  of  those  who  favored  a  liberal 
construction  of  the  constitutional  powers  of  the 
general  government  gathered  on  that  side,  inter 
spersed,  however,  with  not  a  few  state-rights  men. 
Among  them  the  protective  tariff  and  the  policy  of 
internal  improvements  found  most  of  their  advo 
cates. 

Each  of  these  new  parties  claimed  at  first  to  be 
the  genuine,  orthodox  Republican  party,  but,  by 


316  HENRY  CLAY. 

way  of  distinction,  the  Jackson  men  called  them 
selves  Democratic  Republicans,  and  the  followers 
of  Clay  and  Adams  National  Republicans,  —  ap 
pellations  which  a  few  years  later  gave  room  to  the 
shorter  names  of  Democrats  and  Whigs. 

These  two  new  political  organizations  are  com 
monly  assumed  to  have  been  mere  revivals  of  the 
old  Federal  and  Republican  parties.  This  they 
were,  however,  only  in  a  limited  sense.  It  cer 
tainly  cannot  be  said  that  the  Democrats  were  all 
old  Republicans,  and  the  Nationals  all,  or  nearly 
all,  old  Federalists.  John  Quincy  Adams  himself 
had  indeed  been  a  Federalist ;  but  he  had  joined 
the  Republicans  during  Jefferson's  presidency,  when 
the  conflict  with  England  was  approaching.  Clay 
had  been  a  Republican  leader  from  the  start,  and 
most  of  his  followers  came  from  the  same  ranks. 
On  the  other  hand  many  old  Federalists,  who  hated 
Adams  on  account  of  what  they  called  his  deser 
tion,  joined  the  opposition  to  his  administration, 
and  then  remained  with  the  Democratic  party,  in 
which  some  of  them  rose  to  high  places.  As  to  the 
antecedents  of  their  members,  both  new  parties 
were,  therefore,  composed  of  mixed  elements. 

They  did,  indeed,  represent  two  different  politi 
cal  tendencies,  somewhat  corresponding  with  those 
which  had  divided  their  predecessors,  —  one  favor 
ing  a  more  strict,  the  other  a  more  latitudinarian, 
construction  of  constitutional  powers.  But  this, 
too,  must  be  taken  with  a  qualification.  The  old 
Republican  party,  before  Jefferson's  election  to  the 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  317 

presidency,  had  been  terribly  excited  at  the  as 
sumptions  of  power  by  the  Federalists,  such  as  the 
alien  and  sedition  laws.  But  when  in  possession 
of  the  government,  they  went  fully  as  far  in  that 
direction  as  the  Federalists  had  done.  Their  lead 
ers  admitted  that  they  had  exceeded  the  warrant 
of  the  Constitution  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  ; 
and  their  embargoes,  and  the  laws  and  executive 
measures  enforcing  them,  were,  as  encroachments 
upon  local  self-goVernment  and  individual  rights, 
hardly  less  objectionable  in  principle  than  the  alien 
and  sedition  laws  had  been.  But  it  must  be  ad 
mitted  that  these  things  were  not  done  for  the  pur 
pose  of  enlarging  the  power  of  the  government, 
and  of  encroaching  upon  home  rule  and  individual 
rights.  It  was  therefore  with  a  self -satisfied  sense 
of  consistency  that  they  continued  to  preach,  as  a 
matter  of  doctrine,  the  most  careful  limitation  of 
the  central  power  and  the  largest  scope  of  local 
self-government.  In  this  respect  the  new  Demo 
cratic  party  followed  in  their  footsteps. 

The  old  Federalists,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
openly  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  a  govern 
ment  strong  enough  to  curb  the  unruly  democracy. 
The  National  Republicans,  or  Whigs,  having  in 
great  part  themselves  been  Jeffersonian  Republi 
cans,  mostly  favored  a  liberal  construction  of  con 
stitutional  powers,  not  with  a  view  to  curbing  the 
unruly  democracy,  but  to  other  objects,  such  as  in 
ternal  improvements,  a  protective  tariff,  and  a 
national  bank. 


318  HENRY  CLAY. 

In  practice,  indeed,  the  lines  thus  more  or  less 
distinctly  dividing  the  two  new  parties  were  not  as 
strictly  observed  by  the  members  of  each  as  might 
have  been  inferred  from  the  fierce  fights  occasion 
ally  raging  between  them.  Strict  constructionists, 
when  in  power,  would  sometimes  yield  to  the  temp 
tation  of  stretching  the  Constitution  freely  ;  while 
latitudinarians  in  opposition  would,  when  conven 
ient  to  themselves,  insist  upon  the  narrowest  inter 
pretation  of  the  fundamental  lam  On  the  whole, 
however,  the  new  Democratic  party,  by  its  advo 
cacy  of  the  largest  local  self-government  and  a 
strict  limitation  of  the  central  authority,  secured 
to  itself  the  prestige  of  the  apostolic  succession  to' 
Jefferson.  It  placed  itself  before  the  people  as  the 
true  representative  of  the  genuine  old  theory  of 
democratic  government,  as  the  popular  party,  and 
as  the  legitimate  possessor  of  power  in  the  nation. 
This  position  it  maintained  until  thirty  years  later, 
when  its  entanglement  with  slavery  caused  its 
downfall. 

The  National  Republican,  or  Whig  party,  was 
led  by  men  who  recognized  the  elevated  character 
of  John  Quincy  Adams's  administration,  and  who 
sustained  it  against  partisan  assaults  and  popular 
clamor.  They  dreaded  the  rule  of  an  ignorant 
and  violent  military  chieftain  such  as  Jackson  was 
thought  to  be.  They  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
industrial  developments  of  the  times,  and  thought 
that  the  government,  or  rather  themselves  in  pos 
session  of  the  government,  could  give  those  devel- 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  319 

opments  more  intelligent  impulse,  aid,  and  direc 
tion  than  the  people  would  do  if  let  alone.  They 
felt  themselves  called  upon  to  take  care  of  the  peo 
ple  in  a  larger  sense,  in  a  greater  variety  of  ways, 
than  did  statesmen  of  the  Democratic  creed.  Thus, 
while  the  Democratic  party  found  its  principal  con 
stituency  among  the  agricultural  population,  in 
cluding  the  planters  in  the  Southern  States,  with 
all  that  depended  upon  them,  and  among  the  poorer 
and  more  ignorant  people  of  the  cities,  the  National 
Republicans,  or  Whigs,  recruited  themselves  —  of 
course  not  exclusively,  but  to  a  conspicuous  extent 
—  among  the  mercantile  and  industrial  classes,  and 
generally  among  the  more  educated  and  stirring  in 
other  walks  of  life.  The  Democratic  party  suc 
cessfully  asserting  itself  as  the  legitimate  adminis 
trator  of  the  national  power,  the  Nationals  found 
themselves  consigned,  for  the  larger  part  of  the 
time,  to  the  role  of  a  critical  opposition,  always 
striving  to  get  into  power,  but  succeeding  only  oc 
casionally  as  a  temporary  corrective.  Whenever 
any  members  of  the  majority  party  were  driven 
into  opposition  by  its  fierce  discipline,  they  found 
a  ready  welcome  among  the  Nationals,  who  could 
offer  them  brilliant  company  in  an  uncommon 
array  of  men  of  talent.  The  Whig  party  was  thus 
admirably  fitted  for  the  business  of  criticism,  and 
that  criticism  was  directed  not  only  against  the 
enemy,  but  not  seldom  against  itself,  at  the  ex 
pense  of  harmonious  cooperation.  Its  victories 
were  mostly  fruitless.  In  point  of  drill  and  dis- 


320  HENRY   CLAY. 

cipline  it  was  greatly  the  inferior  of  its  antagonist ; 
nor  could  it  under  ordinary  circumstances  make 
up  for  that  deficiency  by  superior  enthusiasm.  It 
had  a  tendency  in  the  direction  of  selectness,  which 
gave  it  a  distinguished  character,  challenging  the 
admiration  of  others  as  well  as  exciting  its  own, 
but  also  calculated  to  limit  its  popularity. 

There  were,  then,  two  political  parties  again,  and 
at  the  same  time  two  party  leaders  whose  equals  — 
it  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  —  the  Ameri 
can  people  had  never  seen  before,  and  have  never 
seen  since,  excepting  Abraham  Lincoln,  who,  how 
ever,  was  something  more  than  a  party  leader. 
They  were,  indeed,  greatly  inferior  to  Hamilton  in 
creative  statesmanship,  and  to  Jefferson  in  the 
faculty  of  disseminating  ideas,  and  of  organizing, 
stimulating,  and  guiding  an  agitation  from  the 
closet.  But  they  were  much  stronger  than  either 
in  the  power  of  inspiring  great  masses  of  followers 
with  enthusiastic  personal  devotion,  of  inflaming 
them  for  an  idea  or  a  public  measure,  of  marshal 
ing  them  for  a  conflict,  of  leading  them  to  victory, 
or  rallying  them  after  defeat.  But  while  each  of 
them  possessed  the  magic  of  leadership  in  the 
highest  degree,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  two 
men  more  different  in  almost  all  other  respects. 

Andrew  Jackson,  when  he  became  President, 
was  a  man  of  sixty-two.  A  life  of  much  exposure, 
hardship,  and  excitement,  and  also  ill-health,  had 
made  him  appear  older  than  he  was.  His  great 
military  achievement  lay  fifteen  years  back  in  the 


THE  PARTY   CHIEFS.  321 

past,  and  made  him  the  "  old  hero."  He  was.  very 
ignorant.  In  his  youth  he  had  mastered  scarcely 
the  rudiments  of  education,  and  he  did  not  possess 
that  acquisitive  intellectuality  which  impels  men, 
with  or  without  preparation,  to  search  for  knowl 
edge  and  to  store  it  up.  While  he  had  keen  in 
tuitions,  he  never  thoroughly  understood  the  merits 
of  any  question  of  politics  or  economics.  But  his 
was  in  the  highest  degree  the  instinct  of  a  supe 
rior  will,  the  genius  of  command.  If  he  had  been 
on  board  a  vessel  in  extreme  danger,  he  would  have 
thundered  out  his  orders  without  knowing  anything 
of  seamanship,  and  been  indignantly  surprised  if 
captain  and  crew  had  not  obeyed  him.  At  a  fire,  his 
voice  would  have  made  by-standers  as  well  as  fire 
men  promptly  do  his  will.  In  war,  he  was  of  course 
made  a  general,  and  without  any  knowledge  of  mil 
itary  science  he  went  out  to  meet  the  enemy,  made 
raw  militia  fight  like  veterans,  and  won  the  most 
brilliant  victory  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  not 
only  brave  himself ;  his  mere  presence  infused 
bravery  into  others. 

To  his  military  heroship  he  owed  that  popularity 
tyhich  lifted  him  into  the  presidential  chair,  and  he 
carried  the  spirit  of  the  warrior  into  the  business 
of  the  government.  His  party  was  to  him  his 
army ;  those  who  opposed  him,  the  enemy.  He 
knew  not  how  to  argue,  but  how  to  command  ;  not 
how  to  deliberate,  but  how  to  act.  He  had  that 
impulsive  energy  which  always  creates  dramatic 
Conflicts,  and  the  power  of  passion  he  put  into  them 

21 


322  HENRY  CLAY. 

made  all  his  conflicts  look  tremendous.  When  he 
had  been  defeated  in  1825  by  the  influence  of  Clay, 
he  made  it  appear  as  if  he  were  battling  against  all 
the  powers  of  corruption  which  were  threatening 
the  life  of  the  Kepublic.  We  shall  see  him  fight 
Nicholas  Biddle,  of  the  United  States  Bank,  as  if 
he  had  to  defend  the  American  people  against  the 
combined  money  power  of  the  world  seeking  to  en 
slave  them.  In  rising  up  against  nullification,  and 
in  threatening  France  with  war  to  make  her  pay  a 
debt,  we  shall  see  him  saving  the  Union  from 
deadly  peril,  and  humiliating  to  the  dust  the  inso 
lence  of  the  old  world.  Thus  he  appeared  like  an 
invincible  Hercules  constantly  meeting  terrible 
monsters  dangerous  to  the  American  people,  and 
slaying  them  all  with  his  mighty  club. 

This  fierce  energy  was  his  nature.  It  had  a 
wonderful  fascination  for  the  popular  fancy,  which 
is  fond  of  strong  and  bold  acts.  He  became  the 
idol  of  a  large  portion  of  the  people  to  a  degree 
never  known  before  or  since.  Their  belief  was 
that  with  him  defeat  was  impossible ;  that  all  the 
legions  of  darkness  could  not  prevail  against  him  ; 
and  that,  whatever  arbitrary  powers  he  might  as 
sume,  and  whatever  way  he  might  use  them,  it 
would  always  be  for  the  good  of  the  country,  —  a 
belief  which  he  sincerely  shared.  His  ignorance  of 
the  science  of  statesmanship,  and  the  rough  manner 
in  which  he  crossed  its  rules,  seemed  to  endear  him 
all  the  more  to  the  great  mass  of  his  followers.  In 
numerable  anecdotes  about  his  homely  and  robust 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  323 

sayings  and  doings  were  going  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  and  with  delight  the  common  man  felt  that 
this  potent  ruler  was  '•  one  of  us." 

This  popularity  gave  him  an  immense  authority 
over  the  politicians  of  his  party.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  and  a  tremendous  foe.  By  a  faithful  friend 
he  would  stand  to  the  last  extremity.  But  one  who 
seriously  differed  from  him  on  any  matter  that  was 
near  his  heart,  was  in  great  danger  of  becoming  an 
object  of  his  wrath.  The  ordinary  patriot  is  apt 
to  regard  the  enemies  of  his  country  as  his  per 
sonal  enemies.  But  Andrew  Jackson  was  always 
inclined,  with  entire  sincerity,  to  regard  his  per 
sonal  opponents  as  the  enemies  of  his  country.  He 
honestly  believed  them  capable  of  any  baseness, 
and  it  was  his  solemn  conviction  that  such  nui 
sances  must  be  abated  by  any  power  available  for 
that  purpose.  The  statesmen  of  his  party  fre 
quently  differed  from  him  on  matters  of  public 
importance  ;  but  they  knew  that  they  had  to  choose 
between  submission  and  his  disfavor.  His  friends 
would  sometimes  exercise  much  influence  upon  him 
in  starting  his  mind  in  a  certain  direction ;  but 
when  once  started,  that  mind  was  beyond  their 
control.  His  personal  integrity  was  above  the 
reach  of  corruption.  He  always  meant  to  do  right ; 
indeed,  he  was  always  firmly  convinced  of  being 
right.  His  idea  of  right  was  not  seldom  obscured 
by  ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  in  following  it  he 
would  sometimes  do  the  most  unjust  or  dangerous 
things.  But  his  friends,  and  the  statesmen  of  his 


324  HENRY  CLAY. 

party,  knowing  that,  when  he  had  made  up  his 
mind,  especially  on  a  matter  that  had  become  a 
subject  of  conflict  between  him  and  his  "  enemies," 
it  was  absolutely  useless  to  reason  with  him,  accus 
tomed  themselves  to  obeying  orders,  unless  they 
were  prepared  to  go  to  the  rear  or  into  opposition. 
It  was,  therefore,  not  a  mere  invention  of  the 
enemy,  but  sober  truth,  that,  when  Jackson's  ad 
ministration  was  attacked,  sometimes  the  only  an 
swer  left  to  its  defenders,  as  well  as  the  all-suffi 
cient  one  with  the  Democratic  masses,  was  simply 
a  "  Hurrah  for  Jackson  !  " 

Henry  Clay  was,  although  in  retirement,  the 
recognized  chief  of  the  National  Republicans.  He 
was  then  fifty-two  years  old,  and  in  the  full  matur 
ity  of  his  powers.  He  had  never  been  an  arduous 
student  ;  but  his  uncommonly  vivacious  and  re 
ceptive  mind  had  learned  much  in  the  practical 
school  of  affairs.  He  possessed  that  magnificent 
confidence  in  himself  which  extorts  confidence  from 
others.  He  had  a  full  measure  of  the  temper  ne 
cessary  for  leadership  :  the  spirit  of  initiative ;  but 
not  always  the  discretion  that  should  accompany 
it.  His  leadership  was  not  of  that  mean  order 
which  merely  contrives  to  organize  a  personal  fol 
lowing  ;  it  was  the  leadership  of  a  statesman  zeal 
ously  striving  to  promote  great  public  interests. 
Whenever  he  appeared  in  a  deliberative  assembly, 
or  in  the  councils  of  his  party,  he  would,  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course,  take  in  his  hands  what  important 
business  was  pending,  and  determine  the  policy  to 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  325 

be  followed.  His  friends,  and  some  even  among 
his  opponents,  were  so  accustomed  to  yield  to  him, 
that  nothing  seemed  to  them  concluded  without  the 
mark  of  his  assent  ;  and  they  involuntarily  looked 
to  him  for  the  decisive  word  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done.  Thus  he  grew  into  a  habit  of  dictation, 
which  occasionally  displayed  itself  in  a  manner  of 
peremptory  command,  and  an  intolerance  of  ad 
verse  opinion  apt  to  provoke  resentment. 

It  was  his  eloquence  that  had  first  made  him  fa 
mous,  and  that  throughout  his  career  mainly  sus 
tained  his  leadership.  His  speeches  were  not  mas 
terpieces  of  literary  art,  nor  exhaustive  disserta 
tions.  They  do  not  offer  to  the  student  any  pro 
found  theories  of  government  or  expositions  of 
economic  science.  They  will  not  be  quoted  as  au 
thorities  on  disputed  points.  Neither  were  they 
strings  of  witty  epigrams.  They  were  the  impas 
sioned  reasoning  of  a  statesman  intensely  devoted 
to  his  country  and  to  the  cause  he  thought  right. 
There  was  no  appearance  of  artifice  in  them.  They 
made  every  listener  feel  that  the  man  who  uttered 
them  was  tremendously  in  earnest,  and  that  the 
thoughts  he  expressed  had  not  only  passed  through 
his  brain,  but  also  through  his  heart.  They  werj 
the  speeches  of  a  great  debater,  and,  as  may  be 
said  of  those  of  Charles  James  Fox,  cold  print 
could  never  do  them  justice.  To  be  fully  appre 
ciated  they  had  to  be  heard  on  the  theatre  of  ac 
tion,  in  the  hushed  senate  chamber,  or  before  the 
eagerly  upturned  faces  of  assembled  multitudes. 


326  HENRY  CLAY. 

To  feel  the  full  charm  of  his  lucid  explanations, 
and  his  winning  persuasiveness,  or  the  thrill  which 
was  flashed  through  the  nerves  of  his  hearers  by 
the  magnificent  sunbursts  of  his  enthusiasm,  or 
the  fierce  thunderstorms  of  his  anger  and  scorn, 
one  had  to  hear  that  musical  voice  cajoling,  flatter 
ing,  inspiring,  overawing,  terrifying  in  turn,  —  a 
voice  to  the  cadences  of  which  it  was  a  physical 
delight  to  listen ;  one  had  to  see  that  face,  not 
handsome,  but  glowing  with  the  fire  of  inspiration ; 
that  lofty  mien,  that  commanding  stature  con 
stantly  growing  under  his  words,  and  the  grand 
sweep  of  his  gesture,  majestic  in  its  dignity,  and 
full  of  grace  and  strength,  —  the  whole  man  a 
superior  being  while  he  spoke. 

Survivors  of  his  time,  who  heard  him  at  his  best, 
tell  us  of  the  effects  produced  by  his  great  appeals 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  or  the  Senate,  the 
galleries  trembling  with  excitement,  and  even  the 
members  unable  to  contain  themselves  ;  or,  in 
popular  assemblies,  the  multitudes  breathlessly 
listening,  and  then  breaking  out  in  unearthly  shouts 
of  enthusiasm  and  delight,  weeping  and  laughing, 
and  rushing  up  to  him  with  overwhelming  demon 
strations  of  admiring  and  affectionate  rapture. 

Clay's  oratory  sometimes  fairly  paralyzed  his 
opponents.  A  story  is  told  that  Tom  Marshall, 
himself  a  speaker  of  uncommon  power,  was  once 
selected  to  answer  Clay  at  a  mass  meeting,  but 
that  he  was  observed,  while  Clay  was  proceeding, 
slowly  to  make  his  way  back  through  the  listening 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  327 

crowd,  apparently  anxious  to  escape.  Some  of  his 
friends  tried  to  hold  him,  saying :  "  Why,  Mr. 
Marshall,  where  are  you  going  ?  You  must  reply 
to  Mr.  Clay.  You  can  easily  answer  all  he  has 
said."  "  Of  course,  I  can  answer  every  point," 
said  Marshall,  "  but  you  must  excuse  me,  gentle 
men  ;  I  cannot  go  up  there  and  do  it  just  now, 
after  his  speech." 

There  was  a  manly,  fearless  frankness  in  the 
avowal  of  his  opinions,  and  a  knightly  spirit  in  his 
defense  of  them,  as  well  as  in  his  attacks  on  his 
opponents.  He  was  indeed,  on  the  political  field, 
the  preux  chevalier,  marshaling  his  hosts,  sound 
ing  his  bugle  blasts,  and  plunging  first  into  the 
fight ;  and  with  proud  admiration  his  followers 
called  him  "  the  gallant  Harry  of  the  West." 

No  less  brilliant  and  attractive  was  he  in  his 
social  intercourse  with  men  ;  thoroughly  human  in 
his  whole  being ;  full  of  high  spirits  ;  fond  of  en 
joying  life  and  of  seeing  others  happy  ;  generous 
and  hearty  in  his  sympathies  ;  always  courteous, 
sometimes  studiously  and  elaborately  so,  perhaps 
beyond  what  the  occasion  seemed  to  call  for,  but 
never  wounding  the  most  sensitive  by  demonstra 
tive  condescension,  because  there  was  a  truly  kind 
heart  behind  his  courtesy  ;  possessing  a  natural 
charm  of  conversation  and  manner  so  captivating 
that  neither  scholar  nor  backwoodsman  could  with 
stand  its  fascination  ;  making  friends  wherever  he 
appeared,  and  holding  them  —  and  surely  to  no 
public  man  did  friends  ever  cling  with  more  affec- 


328  RENRY  CLAY. 

tionate  attachment.  It  was  not  a  mere  political, 
it  was  a  sentimental  devotion,  —  a  devotion  aban 
doning  even  that  criticism  which  is  the  duty  of 
friendship,  and  forgetting  or  excusing  all  his  weak 
nesses  and  faults,  intellectual,  and  moral,  —  more 
than  was  good  for  him. 

Behind  him  he  had  also  the  powerful  support  of 
the  industrial  interests  of  the  country,  which  saw 
in  him  their  champion,  while  the  perfect  integrity 
of  his  character  forbade  the  suspicion  that  this 
championship  was  serving  his  private  gain. 

Such  were  the  leaders  of  the  two  parties  as  they 
then  stood  before  the  country,  —  individualities 
so  pronounced  and  conspicuous,  commanders  so 
faithfully  sustained  by  their  followers,  that,  while 
they  were  facing  each  other,  the  contests  of  parties 
appeared  almost  like  a  protracted  political  duel 
between  two  men.  It  was  a  struggle  of  singular 
dramatic  interest. 

There  was  no  fiercer  hater  than  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  no  man  whom  he  hated  so  fiercely  as  he  did 
Henry  Clay.  That  hatred  was  the  passion  of  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  He  sincerely  deemed 
Clay  capable  of  any  villainy,  and  no  sooner  had  he 
the  executive  power  in  his  hands  than  he  used  it 
to  open  hostilities.  His  cabinet  appointments 
were  determined  upon  several  days  before  his  in 
auguration  as  President.  Five  of  the  places  were 
filled  with  men  who  had  made  their  mark  as  ene 
mies  of  Clay.  Among  these  were  two  Senators, 
who  in  1825  had  voted  against  the  nomination  of 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  329 

Clay  for  the  secretaryship  of  state,  —  Branch  of 
North  Carolina,  whom  Jackson  made  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  Berrien,  who  became  Attorney 
General.  Eaton  of  Tennessee,  whom  Jackson  se 
lected  as  his  Secretary  of  War,  was  the  principal 
author  of  the  "  bargain  and  corruption  "  story  ; 
and  Ingham  of  Pennsylvania,  the  elect  for  the 
Treasury  Department,  had  distinguished  himself  in 
his  state  by  the  most  zealous  propagation  of  the 
slander.  Barry  of  Kentucky,  chosen  for  the  post 
master  generalship,  possessed  the  merit  of  having 
turned  against  Clay  in  1825,  on  account  of  the 
"  bargain  and  corruption,"  and  of  having  contested 
Kentucky  in  1828  as  the  anti-Clay  candidate  for 
Governor. 

But  the  most  striking  exhibition  of  animosity 
took  place  in  the  State  Department,  at  the  head  of 
which  had  stood  Clay  himself  so  long  as  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  President.  General  Jackson 
had  selected  Martin  Van  Buren  for  that  office ;  but 
Van  Buren,  being  then  Governor  of  New  York, 
could  not  at  once  come  to  Washington  to  enter 
upon  his  new  position.  Jackson  was  determined 
that  the  State  Department  should  not  remain  in 
any  sense  under  the  Clay  influence  for  so  much  as 
an  hour  after  he  became  President.  On  March 
4,  just  before  he  went  to  the  Capitol  to  take  the 
oath  of  office,  he  put  into  the  hands  of  Colonel 
James  A.  Hamilton  of  New  York,  his  trusted  ad 
herent,  a  letter  running  thus  :  "  Sir, — -You  are  ap 
pointed  to  take  charge  of  the  Department  of  State, 


330  HENRY   CLAY. 

and  to  perform  the  duties  of  that  office  until  Gov 
ernor  Van  Buren  arrives  in  this  city.  Your  obe 
dient  servant,  Andrew  Jackson."  A  strange  pro 
ceeding  !  Colonel  Hamilton's  account  of  what 
then  took  place  is  characteristic  :  "  He  (General 
Jackson)  said,  '  Colonel,  you  don't  care  to  see  me 
inaugurated  ?  '  '  Yes,  General,  I  do  ;  I  came  here 
for  that  purpose.'  '  No  ;  go  to  the  State  House, 
and  as  soon  as  you  hear  the  gun  fired,  I  am  Presi 
dent  and  you  are  Secretary.  Go  and  take  charge 
of  the  department.'  I  do  not  state  the  reason  he 
gave  for  this  haste."  Colonel  Hamilton  did  as 
directed,  and  the  moment  the  gun  was  fired,  the 
danger  that  Clay  might  still  exercise  any  influence 
in  the  State  Department  was  averted  from  the 
country.  The  removal  of  Clay's  friends,  who  were 
in  the  public  service,  began  at  once. 

Three  days  after  Jackson's  inauguration  Clay 
addressed  his  friends  at  a  dinner  given  in  his  honor 
by  citizens  of  Washington.  He  deplored  the  elec 
tion  to  the  presidency  of  a  military  hero,  entirely 
devoid  of  the  elements  of  fitness  for  so  difficult  a 
civil  position.  He  beheld  in  it  "  an  awful  fore 
boding  of  the  fate  which,  at  some  future  day,  was 
to  befall  this  infant  Republic."  He  recounted  the 
military  usurpations  which  had  recently  taken 
place  in  South  and  Central  America,  and  said : 
"  The  thunders  from  the  surrounding  forts  and 
the  acclamations  of  the  multitude  on  the  Fourth, 
told  us  what  general  was  at  the  head  of  our  af 
fairs."  And  he  added,  sadly  :  "  A  majority  of  my 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  331 

fellow-citizens,  it  would  seem,  do  not  perceive  the 
dangers  which  I  apprehend  from  the  example." 
He  also  mentioned  the  "  wanton,  unprovoked,  and 
unatoned  injustice  "  which  General  Jackson  had 
done  him.  Nevertheless,  Jackson  was  now  Presi 
dent,  and  his  acts  were  to  be  discussed  with  de 
corum,  and  judged  with  candor. 

Clay  was  mistaken  if  he  thought  that  the  well- 
used  refrain  about  the  military  chieftain  raised 
to  the  presidency  without  any  of  the  statesman's 
qualifications,  would  still  produce  any  effect  upon 
the  masses  of  the  American  people.  They  felt,  at 
that  period,  exceedingly  prosperous  and  hopeful. 
The  improved  means  of  communication  —  all  the 
accessible  inland  waters  being  covered  with  steam 
boats — had  greatly  promoted  the  material  progress 
of  the  country.  Railroad  building  had  just  begun, 
and  opened  a  vast  prospect  of  further  develop 
ment.  In  the  public  mind  there  was  little  anxiety 
and  plenty  of  gorgeous  expectation.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  generality  of  people  did  not  feel 
the  necessity  of  being  taken  care  of  by  trained 
statesmanship.  On  the  contrary,  the  only  alarm 
of  the  time  —  and  that  an  artificial  and  groundless 
one  —  had  been  that  the  trained  statesmen  were 
in  corrupt  combination  to  curtail  in  some  way  the 
people's  rights,  from  which  danger  the  election  of 
General  Jackson  was  supposed  to  have  saved  them. 
The  masses  saw  in  him  a  man  who  thought  as  they 
thought,  who  talked  as  they  talked,  who  was  be 
lieved  to  be  rather  fond  of  treading  on  the  toes  of 


332  HENRY   CLAY. 

aristocratic  pretensions,  who  was  a  living  proof  of 
the  fact  that  it  did  not  require  much  learning  to 
make  a  famous  general  or  to  be  elected  President, 
and  whose  example,  therefore,  assured  them  that 
every  one  of  them  had  a  chance  at  high  distinction 
for  himself. 

But  President  Jackson  soon  furnished  a  new 
point  of  attack.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Republic,  the  accession  of  a  new  President 
was  followed  by  a  systematic  proscription  for 
opinion's  sake  in  the  public  service.  What  we 
understand  by  "  spoils  politics  "  had,  indeed,  not 
been  unknown  before.  It  had  been  practiced 
largely  and  with  demoralizing  effect  in  the  state 
politics  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  But  by 
the  patriotic  statesmen  who  filled  the  presidential 
chair  from  the  establishment  of  the  Constitution 
down  to  the  close  of  the  term  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  public  office  had  been  scrupulously  re 
garded  as  a  public  trust.  Removals  by  wholesale 
for  political  reasons,  or  the  turning  over  of  the 
public  service  to  the  members  of  one  party  as  a 
reward  for  partisan  services  rendered,  or  as  an 
inducement  for  partisan  services  to  be  rendered, 
would  have  been  thought,  during  the  first  half 
century  of  the  Republic,  not  only  a  scandal  and  a 
disgrace,  but  little  less  than  a  criminal  attempt 
to  overthrow  free  institutions.  Even  when,  after 
a  fierce  struggle,  the  government  passed,  by  the 
election  of  Jefferson,  from  the  Federalists  to  the 
Republicans,  and  the  new  President  found  the 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  333 

bulk  of  the  offices  in  the  hands  of  men  whom  the 
victors  considered  inimical  to  all  they  held  dear,  — 
even  at  that  period  of  intense  party  feeling,  Jeffer 
son  made  only  thirty-nine  removals  in  the  eight 
years  during  which  he  occupied  the  presidential 
chair.  Some  of  these  were  made  for  cause  ;  others 
he  justified  upon  the  ground,  not  that  the  offices 
were  patronage  which  the  victors  could  rightly 
claim,  but  that  there  should  be  members  of  each 
party  in  the  service,  to  show  that  neither  had, 
even  temporarily,  a  monopoly  right  to  them,  and 
that,  this  fair  distribution  being  accomplished,  ap 
pointments  should  thereafter,  regardless  of  party 
connection,  depend  exclusively  on  the  candidate's 
integrity,  business  fitness,  and  fidelity  to  the  Con 
stitution.  This  sentiment  was  so  firmly  rooted  in 
the  public  mind  that  even  Jackson,  at  the  begin 
ning  of  Monroe's  administration,  advised  the  Pres 
ident  against  excluding  from  office  members  of  the 
opposite  party. 

When  he  himself  became  President  he  announced 
in  his  inaugural  address  that  the  popular  will  had 
imposed  upon  him  "  the  task  of  reform,"  which 
would  require  "  particularly  the  correction  of  those 
abuses  that  have  brought  the  patronage  of  the 
federal  government  into  conflict  with  the  freedom 
of  elections."  Never  was  the  word  "  reform " 
uttered  with  a  more  sinister  meaning.  An  im 
mense  multitude  had  assembled  in  Washington  to 
see  their  party  chief  invested  with  the  executive 
power,  and  to  claim  their  rewards  for  the  services 


334  HENRY   CLAY. 

they  had  rendered  him.  It  was  as  if  a  victorious 
army  had  come  to  take  possession  of  a  conquered 
country,  expecting  their  general  to  distribute  among 
them  the  spoil  of  the  land.  A  spectacle  was  en 
acted  never  before  known  in  the  capital  of  the 
Republic. 

Jackson  had  not  that  reason  for  making  partisan 
changes  which  had  existed  in  Jefferson's  days. 
For  when  Jackson  became  President  the  civil  ser 
vice  was  teeming  with  his  adherents,  whom  John 
Quincy  Adams's  scrupulous  observance  of  the  tra 
ditional  principle  had  left  undisturbed  in  their 
places.  There  was,  therefore,  no  party  monopoly 
in  the  public  service  to  be  broken  up.  Yet  now 
removals  and  appointments  were  made  with  the 
avowed  object  of  rewarding  friends  and  punishing 
opponents,  to  the  end  of  establishing,  as  to  the  of 
fices  of  the  government,  a  monopoly  in  favor  of  the 
President's  partisans.  Washington,  John  Adams, 
Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  John  Quincy  Adams 
had  made  in  all  seventy-four  removals,  all  but  a 
few  for  cause,  during  the  forty  years  of  their  ag 
gregate  presidential  terms.  In  one  year,  the  first 
of  his  administration,  Jackson  removed  four  hun 
dred  and  ninety-one  postmasters  and  two  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  other  officers,  and,  since  the  new 
men  appointed  new  clerks  and  other  subordinates, 
the  sum  total  of  changes  in  that  year  was  reckoned 
at  more  than  two  thousand.  The  first  arbitrary  dis 
missals  of  meritorious  men  indicated  what  was  to 
come,  and  threw  the  service  into  the  utmost  con. 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  835 

sternation.  "  Among  the  official  corps  here," 
wrote  Clay  on  March  12,  the  day  before  his  de 
parture  from  Washington,  "  there  is  the  greatest 
solicitude  and  apprehension.  The  members  of  it 
feel  something  like  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo  when 
the  plague  breaks  out :  no  one  knows  who  is  next 
to  encounter  the  stroke  of  death,  or,  which  with 
many  of  them  is  the  same  thing,  to  be  dismissed 
from  office.  You  have  no  conception  of  the  moral 
tyranny  which  prevails  here  over  those  in  employ 
ment."  Bad  as  this  appeared,  it  was  not  the  worst 
of  it.  The  "  spoils  system,"  full  fledged,  had 
taken  possession  of  the  national  government,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  its  most  baneful  effects  were  soon 
to  appear. 

Clay  foresaw  the  consequences  clearly,  and,  at  a 
great  public  feast  given  to  him  by  his  neighbors 
upon  his  arrival  at  his  home,  he  promptly  raised 
his  voice  against  the  noxious  innovation.  This 
principle  he  laid  down  as  his  starting  -  point  : 
"  Government  is  a  trust,  and  the  officers  of  the 
government  are  trustees  ;  and  both  the  trust  and 
the  trustees  are  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  peo 
ple."  In  solemn  words  of  prophecy  he  painted 
the  effects  which  the  systematic  violation  of  this 
principle,  inaugurated  by  Jackson,  must  inevitably 
bring  about :  political  contests  turned  into  scram 
bles  for  plunder ;  a  "  system  of  universal  rapac 
ity  "  substituted  for  a  system  of  responsibility ; 
favoritism  for  fitness  ;  "  Congress  corrupted,  the 
press  corrupted,  general  corruption ;  until,  the  sub* 


336  HENRY  CLAY. 

stance  of  free  government  having  disappeared, 
some  pretorian  band  would  arise,  and,  with  the 
general  concurrence  of  a  distracted  people,  put  an 
end  to  useless  forms."  This  was  the  protest  of 
the  good  old  order  of  things  against  the  new  dis 
order.  Such  warnings,  however,  were  in  vain. 
They  might  move  impartially  thinking  men  to  seri 
ous  reflections.  But  Jackson  was  convinced  that 
the  political  opponents  he  dismissed  from  office 
were  really  very  dangerous  persons,  whom  it  was  a 
patriotic  duty  to  render  harmless  ;  and  the  Demo 
cratic  masses  thought  that  Jackson  could  do  no 
wrong.  Many  of  them  found  something  peculiarly 
flattering  in  this  new  conception  of  democratic 
government,  that  neither  high  character  nor  special 
ability,  but  only  political  opinions  of  the  right 
kind,  should  be  required  to  fit  an  American  citizen 
for  the  service  of  his  country ;  that,  while  none  but 
a  good  accountant  would  be  accepted  to  keep  the 
books  of  a  dry-goods  shop,  anybody  might  keep 
the  books  of  the  United  States  Treasury ;  that, 
while  nobody  would  think  of  taking  as  manager  of 
an  importing  business  a  man  who  did  not  know 
something  of  merchandise,  anybody  was  good 
enough  to  be  an  appraiser  in  a  custom-house. 

Indeed,  the  manner  in  which  Jackson  selected 
his  cabinet  was  characteristic  of  the  ruling  idea. 
Colonel  James  A.  Hamilton,  one  of  his  confidential 
advisers  at  that  time,  tells  us  in  his  "  Reminis 
cences  "  :  "  In  this  important  work  by  President 
Jackson,  no  thought  appeared  to  be  given  as  to  the 


THE  PARTY    CHIEFS.  337 

fitness  of  the  persons  for  their  places.  1  am  sure  I 
never  heard  one  word  in  relation  thereto,  and  I  cer 
tainly  had  repeated  conversations  with  him  in  re 
gard  to  these  appointments."  To  be  a  good  hater 
of  Henry  Clay  was  considered  a  greater  requisite 
for  a  cabinet  place  than  statesmanlike  ability  and 
experience.  In  this  way  Jackson  collected  in  his 
executive  council,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two, 
a  rare  assortment  of  mediocrities;  and  nothing 
could  have  been  more  characteristic  than  that  the 
matter  which  most  distracted  this  high  council  of 
statesmen  was  a  difference  of  opinion  concerning 
—  not  some  important  public  question,  but  the 
virtue  of  Secretary  Eaton's  wife.  The  principle 
that  the  fitness  of  a  man  for  a  place,  in  point 
of  character  and  acquirements,  had  nothing  to  do 
with  his  appointment  to  that  place,  was  at  once 
recognized  and  exemplified  above  and  below ;  and 
thus  a  virus  was  infused  into  the  politics  of  the 
nation,  destined  to  test  to  the  utmost  the  native 
robustness  of  the  American  character. 

Clay  was  nominally  in  retirement.  When,  after 
his  return  from  Washington,  the  representative  of 
his  district  in  Congress  offered  to  vacate  the  seat 
in  order  that  he  might  succeed  to  it,  he  declined. 
Neither  would  he  accept  a  place  in  the  legislature 
of  Kentucky.  For  a  while  he  heartily  enjoyed  the 
quiet  life  of  the  farmer.  He  delighted  in  raising 
fine  animals,  —  horses,  blood  cattle,  mules,  pigs,  and 
sheep.  He  corresponded  with  his  friends  about  a 
lot  of  "  fifty  full-blooded  merino  ewes,"  which  he 
22 


338  HENRY  CLAY. 

had  bought  in  Pennsylvania.  His  dairy  was  prof 
itably  managed  by  his  excellent  wife.  He  raised 
good  crops  of  hemp  and  corn.  But,  after  all,  the 
larger  part  of  his  correspondence  ran  on  congres 
sional  elections,  the  prospects  of  his  party,  and 
the  doings  of  President  Jackson.  He  thought 
that  Jackson  could  not  possibly  hold  his  following 
together.  Jackson's  friends  in  Congress  "  must 
decide  on  certain  leading  measures  of  policy  ;  "  if 
he  came  out  for  the  tariff,  the  South  would  leave 
him  ;  if  against  the  tariff,  there  would  be  "  such 
an  opposition  to  him  in  the  tariff  states  as  must 
prevent  his  reelection,"  -  in  all  which  prophesy- 
ings  the  prophet  proved  mistaken.  He  also  be 
lieved  that  the  great  majority  at  the  last  election 
was  directed  rather  against  Mr.  Adams  than 
against  himself,  and  that  his  own  public  position 
was  improving  from  day  to  day. 

After  the  great  defeat  of  1828  the  plaudits  of 
the  multitude  were  especially  sweet  to  him.  On 
his  way  from  Washington  to  Lexington  in  March, 
he  had  been  received  everywhere  by  crowds  of  en 
thusiastic  admirers.  With  profound  complacency 
he  wrote  to  a  friend :  "  My  journey  has  been 
marked  by  every  token  of  attachment  and  heartfelt 
demonstrations.  I  never  experienced  more  testi 
monies  of  respect  and  confidence,  nor  more  enthu 
siasm,  —  dinners,  suppers,  balls,  etc.  I  have  had 
literally  a  free  passage.  Taverns,  stages,  tolL 
gates,  have  been  generally  thrown  open  to  me,  free 
from  all  charge.  Monarchs  might  be  proud  of  the 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  339 

reception   with    which    I    have    everywhere   been 
honored." 

After  a  short  period  of  rest  at  Ashland,  he  could 
not  withhold  himself  from  fresh  contact  with  the 
people.  During  the  autumn  of  1829  he  visited 
several  places  in  Kentucky ;  and  in  January,  1830, 
he  went  to  New  Orleans  and  the  principal  towns 
on  the  Mississippi,  where  he  had  one  ovation  after 
another.  In  the  spring  he  wrote  to  his  friends 
again  about  the  delights  of  his  rural  occupations, 
—  how  he  was  almost  "  prepared  to  renounce  for 
ever  the  strifes  of  public  life,"  and  how  he  thought 
he  would  make  "  a  better  farmer  than  statesman." 
But  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year  we  find  him 
at  Columbus,  Cincinnati,  and  other  places  in  Ohio, 
being  "  received  "  and  feasted,  and  speaking  as  he 
went.  It  was  "  private  business  "  that  led  him 
there,  but  private  business  well  seasoned  with 
politics,  and  accompanied  with  brass  bands  and 
thundering  cannon.  In  an  elaborate  speech  on 
the  questions  of  the  day,  which  he  delivered  at 
Cincinnati  in  August,  1830,  he  could  not  refrain 
from  describing  his  experiences. 

"  Throughout  my  journey  (he  said),  undertaken  solely 
for  private  purposes,  there  has  been  a  constant  effort  on 
my  side  to  repress,  and  on  that  of  my  fellow-citizens  of* 
Ohio  to  exhibit,  public  manifestations  of  their  affettion 
and  confidence.  It  has  been  marked  by  a  succession  of 
civil  triumphs.  I  have  been  escorted  from  village  to 
village,  and  have  everywhere  found  myself  surrounded 
by  large  concourses  of  my  fellow-citizens,  often  of  both 
sexes,  greeting  and  welcoming  me.' 


340  HENRY   CLAY. 

No  wonder  that  his  sanguine  nature  was  inspired 
with  new  hope,  and  that  he  felt  himself  to  be  the 
man  who  could  rally  the  defeated  hosts,  and  over 
throw  the  "  military  chieftain  "  with  all  his  "  pre-^ 
torian  bands." 

He  was  certainly  not  alone  in  thinking  so.  It 
began  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  matter  of  course 
among  the  National  Republicans  that  Clay  would 
be  their  candidate  against  Jackson  in  1832.  On 
May  29,  1830,  Daniel  Webster  wrote  to  him : 
"  You  are  necessarily  at  the  head  of  one  party,  and 
General  Jackson  will  be,  if  he  is  not  already, 
identified  with  the  other.  The  question  will  be 
put  to  the  country.  Let  the  country  decide  it." 
But  in  the  mean  time  a  curious  movement  had 
sprung  up,  dividing  the  opposition  of  which  Clay 
was  the  head.  It  was  the  Anti-Masonic  movement. 
In  1826  one  Captain  William  Morgan,  a  brick 
layer  living  at  Batavia,  in  western  New  York, 
undertook  to  write  a  book  revealing  the  secrets  of 
Freemasonry.  Some  Freemasons  of  the  neigh 
borhood  sought  to  persuade  and  then  to  force  him, 
by  all  sorts  of  chicanery,  to  give  up  his  design, 
but  without  success.  He  was  then  abducted,  and, 
as  was  widely  believed,  murdered.  The  crime 
was  charged  upon  some  fanatical  Freemasons ; 
but  the  whole  order  was  accused  of  countenanc 
ing  it,  and  was  held  responsible  for  obstructing 
the  course  of  justice  on  the  occasion  of  the  investi 
gations  and  trials  which  followed.  The  excitement 
springing  from  these  occurrences,  at  first  confined 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  341 

to  one  or  two  counties  in  western  New  York, 
gradually  spread,  and  grew  into  a  crusade  against 
secret  societies  bound  together  by  oaths.  In  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  leading  politicians  to  restrain  it  — 
for  they  feared  its  disorganizing  influence  —  it 
soon  assumed  a  political  character,  and  then  some 
of  them,  vigorously  turned  it  to  their  advantage. 
Beginning  with  a  few  country  towns  where  the 
citizens  organized  for  the  exclusion  of  all  Free 
masons  from  office,  the  "  Anti-Masons  "  rapidly 
extended  their  organizations  over  the  western  half 
of  the  state.  Committees  were  formed,  conventions 
were  held,  -and  not  a  few  men  of  standing  and  in 
fluence  took  an  active  part  in  the  movement.  In 
1828,  when  Adams  and  Jackson  were  the  presi 
dential  candidates,  the  Anti-Masons  were  mostly 
on  the  side  of  Adams  ;  while  the  Masons  generally 
rallied  under  Jackson's  flag,  who  was  himself  a 
Mason.  The  Anti-Masons,  however,  refusing  to 
support  the  candidate  of  the  National  Republicans 
for  the  governorship  of  New  York,  made  a  nomi 
nation  of  their  own  for  that  office.  The  result  was 
the  election  of  the  Jackson  candidate,  Martin  Van 
Buren.  But  from  the  large  vote  polled  by  the 
Anti-Masons  it  appeared  that  in  the  state  election 
the  balance  of  power  had  been  in  their  hands. 
They  also  elected  many  members  of  the  legislature, 
and  secured  a  representation  in  Congress.  Thus 
encouraged,  the  movement  invaded  the  Western 
Reserve  of  Ohio,  and  won  many  adherents  in  Ver 
mont,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 


342  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  Indiana.  It  had  its  newspaper  organs  and  a 
"  Eeview,"  and  presently  it  was  prepared  to  con 
test  a  presidential  election  as  a  "  party." 

Clay  had  many  friends  among  the  Anti-Masons 
who  would  have  been  glad  to  obtain  from  him 
some  declaration  of  sentiment  favorable  to  their 
cause,  in  order  to  make  possible  a  union  of  forces. 
But  he  gave  them  no  encouragement.  To  the 
many  private  entreaties  addressed  to  him  he  uni 
formly  replied  that  he  did  not  desire  to  make  him 
self  a  party  to  that  dispute  ;  that,  although  he  had 
been  initiated  in  the  order,  he  had  long  ceased  to 
be  a  member  of  any  lodge  ;  that  he  had  never  acted, 
either  in  private  or  in  public  life,  under  any  Ma 
sonic  influence,  but  that  Masonry  or  Anti-Masonry 
had  in  his  opinion  nothing  to  do  with  politics. 

He  believed  that,  if  the  Anti-Masons  were  seri 
ously  thinking  of  nominating  a  candidate  of  their 
own  for  the  presidency,  they  would  not  find  a  man 
of  weight  willing  to  stand,  and  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Anti-Masonic  forces  would  drift  over  to  himself. 
In  this  expectation  he  was  disappointed.  The 
Anti-Masons  held  a  national  convention  at  Balti 
more  in  September,  1831,  which  nominated  for  the 
presidency  William  Wirt,  late  Attorney  General 
under  Monroe  and  John  Quincy  Adams ;  and  for 
the  vice-presidency,  Amos  Ellmaker  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  Wirt  was  at  heart  in  favor  of  Clay's  elec 
tion,  but,  having  once  accepted  the  Anti-Masonic 
nomination,  he  found  it  impossible  to  withdraw 
from  the  field.  Some  of  the  leading  Anti-Masons 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  343 

indulged  in  the  hope  that  Clay  himself  might  be 
prevailed  upon  to  give  up  his  candidacy,  and  per 
mit  the  whole  opposition  to  the  Jackson  regime  to 
be  united  under  Anti-Masonic  auspices.  Far  from 
entertaining  such  a  proposition,  he  declared,  with 
sharp  emphasis,  in  a  public  letter  to  a  committee 
of  citizens  of  Indiana,  that  the  Constitution  did 
not  give  the  general  government  the  slightest 
power  to  interfere  with  the  subject  of  Freema 
sonry,  and  that  he  thought  the  presidential  office 
should  be  filled  by  one  who  was  capable,  "  un 
swayed  by  sectarian  feelings  or  passions,  of  admin 
istering  its  high  duties  impartially  towards  the 
whole  people,  however  divided  into  religious,  social, 
benevolent,  or  literary  associations." 

He  felt  so  strongly  on  this  point  that  he  wrote 
to  his  friend  Brooke  :  "If  the  alternative  be  be 
tween  Andrew  Jackson  and  an  Anti-Masonic  can 
didate,  with  his  exclusive  prescriptive  principles,  I 
should  be  embarrassed  in  the  choice.  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  old  tyranny  is  not  better  than  the  new." 
It  is  not  surprising  that  he,  with  many  others,  should 
have  under-estimated  the  strength  of  the  movement. 
We  find  it  now  hard  to  believe  that  men  of  good 
sense  should  have  seriously  thought  of  making  the 
question  of  Freemasonry  the  principal  issue  of  a 
national  contest  upon  which  the  American  people 
were  to  divide.  But  we  meet  among  those  who 
were  prominently  engaged  in  that  enterprise  such 
names  as  William  H.  Seward,  Thurlow  Weed, 
Francis  Granger,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Richard  Rush 


344  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  William  Wirt,  two  of  Clay's  colleagues  in 
Adams's  Cabinet,  and  even  John  Quincy  Adams 
himself.  Indeed,  while  Clay  would  have  been 
loath  to  choose  between  Jackson  and  an  Anti- 
Masonic  candidate,  Adams  gravely  wrote  in  his 
Diary:  "The  dissolution  of  the  Masonic  institu 
tion  in  the  United  States  I  believe  to  be  really 
more  important  to  us  and  our  posterity  than  the 
question  whether  Mr.  Clay  or  General  Jackson 
shall  be  the  President  chosen  at  the  next  election." 
The  Anti-Masonic  movement  furnished  a  curious 
example  of  mental  contagion.  But  odd  as  it  was, 
it  kept  the  opposition  to  Jackson  divided. 

Many  things  had  in  the  mean  time  occurred  which 
created  a  loud  demand  for  Clay's  personal  presence 
and  leadership  on  the  theatre  of  action  at  the  na 
tional  capital.  President  Jackson,  treating  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet  more  as  executive  clerks 
than  as  political  advisers,  and  dispensing  with  reg 
ular  cabinet  meetings,  had  surrounded  himself  with 
the  famous  "  Kitchen  Cabinet,"  a  little  coterie  of 
intimates,  from  whom  he  largely  received  his  polit 
ical  inspirations  and  advice,  —  a  secret  council  of 
state,  withdrawn  entirely  from  public  responsibility, 
consisting  of  able,  crafty,  personally  honest  men, 
skillful  politicians,  courageous  to  audacity,  and 
thoroughly  devoted  to  General  Jackson.  The  mem 
bers  of  this  secret  council  were  William  B.  Lewis 
from  Tennessee,  one  of  Jackson's  warmest  home 
friends  ;  Isaac  Hill  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Amos 
Kendall,  who  was  employed  in  the  Treasury ;  and 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  345 

Duff  Green,  the  editor  of  Jackson's  first  news 
paper  organ.  He  fell  from  grace  as  being  a  friend 
of  Calhoun,  and  was  supplanted  by  Francis  P. 
Blair.  Kendall  and  Blair  had  been  journalists  in 
Kentucky,  and  near  friends  of  Henry  Clay,  but 
had  turned  against  him  mainly  in  consequence  of 
the  so  -  called  "  relief  "  movement  in  that  state, 
which,  as  already  mentioned,  was  one  of  those  epi 
demic  infatuations  which  make  people  believe  that 
they  can  get  rid  of  their  debts  and  become  rich  by 
legislative  tricks  and  the  issue  of  promises  to  pay. 
The  movement  developed  intense  hostility  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States.  There  had  been  per 
sonal  disputes,  too,  between  Clay  and  Kendall,  en 
gendering  much  ill  feeling.  The  existence  and 
known  influence  of  the  Kitchen  Cabinet  kept  the 
political  world  in  constantly  strained  expectation 
as  to  what  would  turn  up  next. 

The  "  Globe  "  newspaper  had  been  established, 
with  Francis  P.  Blair  in  the  editorial  chair,  as 
President  Jackson's  organ,  to  direct  and  discipline 
his  own  party,  and  to  castigate  its  opponents. 

In  his  first  message  to  Congress,  in  December, 
1829,  President  Jackson  had  thrown  out  threaten 
ing  hints  as  to  the  policy  of  rechartering  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  the  charter  of  which  would 
expire  in  1836  ;  and  in  the  message  of  1830  those 
threats  were  repeated.  The  approaching  extinc 
tion  of  the  national  debt  rendering  a  reduction  of 
the  revenue  necessary,  there  was  much  apprehen 
sion  as  to  what  the  fate  of  the  protective  tariff 


346  HENRY  CLAY. 

would  be.  Large  meetings  of  free-traders  as  well 
as  of  protectionists  were  held  to  influence  legis 
lation. 

President  Jackson  had  vetoed  the  "  Marysville 
Road  Bill,"  and  thereby  declared  his  hostility  to 
the  policy  of  internal  improvements.  With  regard 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  State  of  Georgia  against 
the  Cherokees,  President  Jackson  had  submitted 
to  the  extreme  state-sovereignty  pretensions  of  the 
state,  in  disregard  —  it  might  be  said,  in  defiance 
—  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

A  great  commotion  had  arisen  in  South  Caro 
lina  against  the  tariff  laws,  leading  to  the  promul 
gation  of  the  doctrine  that  any  single  state  had  the 
power  to  declare  a  law  of  the  United  States  uncon 
stitutional,  void,  and  not  binding,  —  the  so-called 
nullification  theory.  Webster  had  thrilled  the 
country  with  his  celebrated  plea  for  Liberty  and 
Union  in  his  reply  to  Hayne,  winning  a  "noble 
triumph,"  as  Clay  called  it  in  a  letter.  Jackson 
had,  at  a  banquet  on  Jefferson's  birthday,  in  Apri7 
1830,  given  an  indication  of  the  spirit  aroused  in 
him,  by  offering  the  famous  toast,  "  Our  Federal 
Union  :  it  must  be  preserved." 

Jackson  had  declared  hostilities  against  Vice- 
President  Calhoun  in  consequence  of  the  discovery 
that  Calhoun,  as  a  member  of  Monroe's  Cabinet, 
had  condemned  Jackson's  proceedings  in  the  Semi- 
nole  war  of  1818.  In  June,  1831,  the  whole  Cab 
inet  had  resigned,  or  rather  been  compelled  to  re« 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  347 

sign,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  eliminating  from 
the  administration  Calhoun's  friends,  and  a  new 
Cabinet  had  been  appointed,  in  which  Edward  Liv 
ingston  was  Secretary  of  State  ;  Louis  McLane  of 
Delaware,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Roger  JB. 
Taney,  Attorney  General ;  and  Levi  Woodbury, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy;  the  Post  Office  Depart 
ment  remaining  in  Barry's  hands. 

The  Kitchen  Cabinet  had  elicited  demonstrations 
from  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  subsequently 
indorsed  by  that  of  New  York,  calling  upon  Gen 
eral  Jackson  to  stand  for  a  second  term,  notwith 
standing  his  previous  declarations  in  favor  of  the 
one-term  principle,  and  it  was  generally  understood 
that  he  would  do  so. 

All  these  occurrences,  added  to  the  impression 
that  in  the  President  and  his  confidential  advisers 
there  was  to  be  dealt  with  a  force  yet  undefined 
and  beyond  the  ordinary  rules  of  calculation,  pro 
duced  among  the  opposition  party  a  singular  feel 
ing  of  insecurity.  They  looked  for  a  strong  man 
to  lead  them ;  they  wanted  to  hear  Clay's  voice  in 
Congress  ;  and  it  is  characteristic  that  Daniel  Web 
ster,  who  had  just  then  reached  the  zenith  of  his 
glory,  and  was  by  far  the  first  man  in  the  Senate, 
should  have  given  the  most  emphatic  expression  to 
that  anxiety  for  energetic  leadership.  'fc  You  must 
be  aware,"  he  wrote  to  Clay  from  Boston  on  Octo 
ber  5,  1831,  "  of  the  strong  desire  manifested  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  that  you  should  come 
into  the  Senate :  the  wish  is  entertained  here  as 


348  HENRY  CLAY. 

earnestly  as  anywhere.  We  are  to  have  an  inter 
esting  and  arduous  session.  Everything  is  to  be 
attacked.  An  array  is  preparing  much  more  for 
midable  than  has  ever  yet  assaulted  what  we  think 
the  leading  and  important  public  interests.  Not 
only  the  tariff,  but  the  Constitution  itself,  in  its 
elementary  and  fundamental  provisions,  will  be 
assailed  with  talent,  vigor,  and  union.  Everything 
is  to  be  debated  as  if  nothing  had  ever  been  set 
tled.  It  would  be  an  infinite  gratification  to  me 
to  have  your  aid,  or  rather  your  lead.  I  know 
nothing  so  likely  to  be  useful.  Everything  valu 
able  in  the  government  is  to  be  fought  for,  and  we 
need  your  arm  in  the  fight." 

Clay  was  reluctant  to  yield  to  these  entreaties. 
His  instinct  probably  told  him  that  for  a  presiden 
tial  candidate  the  Senate  is  not  a  safe  place,  espe 
cially  while  the  canvass  is  going  on.  But  he  obeyed 
the  call  of  his  friends,  which  at  the  same  time  ap 
peared  to  be  the  call  of  the  public  interest.  When 
it  became  known  that  he  would  be  a  candidate  for 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  before  the  Ken 
tucky  legislature,  the  Washington  "  Globe,"  Presi 
dent  Jackson's  organ,  opened  its  batteries  with 
characteristic  fury.  Commenting  upon  the  fact 
that  Clay  attended  the  legislature  in  person,  and 
forgetting  that  his  competitor,  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
the  Jackson  candidate,  did  the  same,  the  "  Globe  " 
spoke  thus :  — 

"  If  under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Clay  should  come 
to  the  Senate,  he  will  but  consummate  his  ruin.  He  wil] 


THE  PARTY  CHIEFS.  349 

stand  in  that  body,  not  as  the  representative  of  Ken 
tucky,  but  of  a  few  base  men  rendered  infamous  in  elect 
ing  him.  He  will  no  longer  represent  his  countrymen, 
but,  like  an  Irish  patriot  become  an  English  pensioner, 
he  will  represent  an  odious  oligarchy,  and,  owing  his  sta 
tion  altogether  to  chicane  and  management,  he  will  be 
stripped  of  the  dignity  of  his  character,  and  gradually 
sink  into  insignificance." 

Nevertheless  Clay  was  elected,  but  only  by  a 
small  majority.  Thus  he  entered  upon  his  sena 
torial  career,  more  heartily  welcomed  by  his  friends, 
and  more  bitterly  hated  by  his  enemies,  than  ever 
before. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

THE   CAMPAIGN    OF   1832. 

HENRY  CLAY  appeared  in  Washington  at  the 
opening  of  Congress  in  December,  1831,  in  the 
double  character  of  Senator  and  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  It  was  at  that  period  that  the  method 
of  putting  presidential  candidates  in  the  field  by 
national  conventions  of  party  delegates  found  gen 
eral  adoption.  The  Anti  -  Masons  had  held  their 
national  convention  in  September.  The  National 
Republicans  were  to  follow  on  December  12.  That 
Henry  Clay  would  be  their  candidate  for  the  pres 
idency  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  Nobody  ap 
peared  as  a  competitor  for  the  honor.  But  it  re 
mained  still  to  be  determined  what  issues  should 
be  put  prominently  forward  in  the  canvass.  On 
this  point  the  opinion  of  the  recognized  leader  was 
naturally  decisive.  As  a  matter  of  course,  a  pro 
tective  tariff  and  internal  improvements,  and  an 
emphatic  condemnation  of  the  "  spoils  system," 
would  form  important  parts  of  his  programme. 
But  a  grave  question  turned  up,  on  the  treatment 
of  which  his  friends  seriously  differed  in  opinion. 
It  was  that  of  the  National  Bank.  The  existing 
Bank  of  the  United  States  had  been  created,  with 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  351 

Clay's  help,  in  1816.  Its  charter  was  to  run  for 
twenty  years,  and  would  therefore  expire  in  1836. 
In  order  to  understand  how  the  rechartering  of 
that  bank  became  a  burning  question  in  1831,  a 
short  retrospect  is  necessary. 

When  President  Jackson  came  into  office  the 
country  was  in  a  prosperous  condition.  There  was 
little  speculation,  but  business  in  all  directions 
showed  a  healthy  activity,  and  yielded  good  re 
turns.  The  currency  troubles,  which  had  long 
been  disturbing  the  country,  especially  the  South 
and  W'est,  were  over.  The  "circulating  medium" 
was  more  uniform  and  trustworthy,  4  and,  on  the 
whole,  in  a  more  satisfactory  condition  than  it  ever 
had  been  before.  The  agency  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  in  bringing  about  these  results 
was  generally  recognized.  In  the  first  two  years 
after  its  establishment  the  bank  had  been  badly 
managed.  But  Langdon  Cheves,  appointed  its 
president  in  1819,  put  the  conduct  of  its  business 
upon  a  solid  footing,  and  thereafter  it  continued 
steadily  to  grow  in  the  confidence  of  the  business 
community.  No  serious  difficulty  was  therefore 
anticipated  as  to  the  rechartering ;  and  as  there 
would  be  no  necessity  for  final  action  on  that  mat 
ter  until  1836,  three  years  after  the  expiration  of 
General  Jackson's  first  presidential  term,  the  pub 
lic  generally  expected  that  any  question  about  it 
would  be  permitted  to  rest  at  least  until  after  the 
election  of  1832. 

Great  was  therefore  the  surprise  when,  in  his 


352  HENRY  CLAY. 

very  first  message  to  Congress,  in  December,  1829, 
President  Jackson  said  that,  although  the  charter 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  would  not  ex 
pire  until  1836,  it  was  time  to  take  up  that  subject 
for  grave  consideration  ;  that  "  both  the  constitu 
tionality  and  the  expediency  of  the  law  creating 
the  bank  were  well  questioned  by  a  large  number 
of  our  fellow-citizens  ;  and  that  it  must  be  admitted 
by  all  to  have  failed  in  the  great  end  of  establish 
ing  a  uniform  and  sound  currency."  Then  he 
submitted  to  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature  whether 
a  "  national  bank,  founded  upon  the  credit  of  the 
government  and  its  revenue,  might  not  be  devised." 
What  did  all  this  mean?  People  asked  themselves 
whether  the  President  knew  something  about  the 
condition  of  the  bank  that  the  public  did  not 
know,  and  the  bank  shares  suffered  at  once  a  seri 
ous  decline  at  the  Exchange. 

The  true  reasons  for  this  hostile  demonstration 
became  known  afterwards.  Benton's  assertion  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  Jackson  had  no  in 
tention  to  overthrow  the  United  States  Bank  when 
he  came  to  Washington.  His  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Ingham,  complimented  the  bank  on  the 
valuable  services  it  rendered,  several  months  after 
the  beginning  of  the  administration.  The  origin 
of  the  trouble  was  characteristic.  Complaint  came 
from  New  Hampshire,  through  Levi  Woodbury,  a 
Senator  from  that  state  and  a  zealous  Jackson 
Democrat,  and  through  Isaac  Hill,  a  member  of  the 
"  Kitchen  Cabinet,"  that  Jeremiah  Mason,  a  Fed* 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  353 

eralist  and  a  friend  of  Daniel  Webster,  had  been 
made  president  of  the  branch  of  the  United  States 
Bank  at  Portsmouth,  and  that  he  was  an  unaccom 
modating  person  very  objectionable  to  the  people. 
A  correspondence  concerning  this  case  sprang  up 
between  Secretary  Ingham  and  Nicholas  Biddle, 
the  President  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  a 
man  of  much  literary  ability,  who  was  rather  fond 
of  an  argument,  and  liked  to  say  clever  things. 
No  impartial  man  can  read  the  letters  which  passed 
to  and  fro  without  coming  to  the  conclusion  that 
influential  men  in  the  Jackson  party  desired  to  use 
the  bank  and  its  branches  for  political  purposes  ; 
that  Biddle  wished  to  maintain  the  political  inde 
pendence  of  the  institution,  and  that  his  refusal  to 
do  the  bidding  of  politicians  with  regard  to  Jere 
miah  Mason  was  bitterly  resented.  It  appears, 
also,  from  an  abundance  of  testimony,  of  which 
Ingham's  confession,  published  after  he  had  ceased 
to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  forms  part,  that 
the  members  of  the  "Kitchen  Cabinet"  told  Jack 
son  all  sorts  of  stories  about  efforts  of  the  bank  to 
use  its  power  in  controlling  elections  in  a  manner 
hostile  to  him  ;  that  he  trustingly  listened  to  all 
"ihe  allegations  against  it  which  reached  his  ears, 
and  that  he  at  last  honestly  believed  the  bank  to 
be  a  power  of  evil,  corrupt  and  corrupting,  dan 
gerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  to  the  ex 
istence  of  the  Republic. 

The  first  message  did  not  produce  on  Congress 
the   desired   effect.     The   President's   own   party 

23 


354  HENRY   CLAY. 

failed  to  stand  by  him.  In  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means 
made  a  report,  affirming,  what  was  well  known, 
that  the  constitutionality  of  the  bank  had  been 
recognized  by  the  Supreme  Court,  that  it  was  a 
useful  institution,  and  that  the  establishment  of  a 
bank  such  as  that  suggested  in  the  message  would 
be  a  dangerous  experiment.  A  similar  report  was 
made  in  the  Senate.  In  the  House,  resolutions 
against  rechartering  the  bank,  and  calling  for  a 
comprehensive  report  upon  its  doings,  were  de 
feated  by  considerable  majorities.  Bank  stock 
went  up  again. 

In  his  second  message,  in  December,  1830,  Presi 
dent  Jackson  said  that  nothing  had  occurred  u  to 

O 

lessen  in  any  degree  the  dangers"  which  many 
citizens  apprehended  from  the  United  States  Bank 
as  actually  organized.  He  then  suggested  the  or 
ganization  of  "  a  bank,  with  the  necessary  officers, 
as  a  branch  of  the  Treasury  Department."  Con 
gress  did  not  take  action  on  the  matter,  but  Ben- 
ton  made  his  first  attack  in  the  Senate  on  the 
United  States  Bank,  not  to  produce  any  immediate 
effect  in  Congress,  but  to  stir  up  the  people. 

In  his  third  message,  in  December,  1831,  Presi 
dent  Jackson  simply  said  that  on  previous  occa 
sions  he  had  performed  his  duty  of  bringing  the 
bank  question  to  the  attention  of  the  people,  and 
that  there  he  would  "for  the  present"  leave  it.  At 
the  same  time  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Me* 
Lane,  submitted  in  his  report  to  Congress  an 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  355 

elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  the  United  States 
Bank.  There  is  much  reason  for  believing  that 
Jackson  at  that  period  was  inclined  to  accept  some 
accommodation  or  compromise  concerning  the  bank 
question,  or  at  least  not  to  force  a  fight  just  then. 
Thurlow  Weed,  in  his  "  Autobiography,"  gives 
an  account  of  a  conference  between  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  and  the  president  of  the  bank,  in 
which  the  assent  of  the  administration  to  the  re- 
charter  was  offered  on  condition  of  certain  modifi 
cations  of  the  charter.  It  is  further  reported  that 
the  officers  of  the  bank  were  strongly  in  favor  of 
accepting  the  proposition,  but  that,  when  they  con 
sulted  Clay  and  Webster  on  the  matter,  they  found 
determined  resistance,  to  which  they  yielded. 

The  officers  and  the  most  discreet  friends  of  the 
United  States  Bank  felt  keenly  that  a  great  finan 
cial  institution,  whose  operations  and  interests 
were  closely  interwoven  with  the  general  business 
of  the  country,  should  not  become  identified  with 
a  political  party  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune, 
and  should  never  permit  itself  to  be  made  the  foot 
ball  of  political  ambitions.  They  were  strongly 
inclined  not  to  press  the  rechartering  of  the  bank 
until  it  should  be  necessary,  and  thus  to  keep  the 
question  out  of  the  presidential  campaign. 

Clay  thought  otherwise.  As  to  the  time  when 
the  renewal  of  the  charter  should  be  asked  for,  he 
maintained  that  the  present  time  was  the  best. 
There  were  undoubted  majorities  favorable  to  the 
bank  in  both  houses.  If  the  President  should  de- 


856  HENRY  CLAY. 

feat  the  renewal  with  his  veto,  he  would  only  ruin 
himself.  He  had  already  greatly  weakened  his 
popularity  by  attacking  the  bank.  It  had  many 
friends  in  the  Jackson  party  who  would  stand  by 
it  rather  than  by  the  President.  Being  located  in 
Philadelphia,  the  bank  wielded  great  power  and 
enjoyed  great  popularity  in  Pennsylvania,  the  hot 
bed  of  Jackson  ism.  Losing  that  state,  Jackson 
would  lose  the  election.  Moreover,  the  bank  had 
a  strong  hold  upon  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  everywhere,  and  everywhere  those  inter 
ests  would  support  the  bank  in  a  decisive  struggle. 
The  bank  issue  was  therefore  the  strongest  which 
the  National  Republicans  could  put  forward.  That 
issue  should  be  made  as  sharp  as  possible,  and  to 
give  it  a  practical  shape,  the  renewal  of  the  char 
ter  should  be  applied  for  at  the  present  session  of 
Congress.  Such  was  Clay's  reasoning  and  advice, 
or  rather  his  command ;  and  both  the  bank  and 
the  party  obeyed. 

On  December  12,  1831,  the  convention  of  the 
National  Republicans  was  held  at  Baltimore.  Clay 
was  nominated  unanimously,  and  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm,  for  the  presidency.  The  nomination  for 
the  vice-presidency  fell  to  John  Sergeant  of  Penn 
sylvania,  a  man  of  excellent  character,  whom  we 
remember  to  have  met,  at  the  time  of  the  struggle 
about  the  admission  of  Missouri,  as  one  of  the 
strongest  advocates  of  the  exclusion  of  slavery. 
The  convention  also  issued  an  address  to  the  peo 
ple,  which  eulogized  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  357 

denounced  the  attack  made  upon  it  by  President 
Jackson  in  his  messages,  and  declared  that,  "  if  the 
President  be  reflected,  it  may  be  considered  cer 
tain  that  the  bank  will  be  abolished."  Thus  the 
issue  was  made  up :  Jackson  must  be  defeated  if 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  to  be  saved. 
The  memorial  of  the  bank,  praying  for  a  renewal 
of  its  charter,  was  presented  in  the  Senate  early  in 
January,  1832,  to  the  end  of  forcing  Congress  and 
the  President  to  act  without  delay.  If  it  was 
Clay's  object  to  make  the  bank  question  the  most 
prominent  one  in  the  canvass,  he  succeeded  beyond 
expectation  ;  and  if  he  had  cast  about  for  the 
greatest  blunder  possible  under  the  circumstances, 
he  could  not  have  found  a  more  brilliant  one. 
This  we  shall  appreciate  when,  at  a  later  period  of 
the  session,  we  hear  both  sides  speak. 

The  first  subject  which  Clay  took  up  for  discus 
sion  in  the  Senate  was  the  tariff.  Two  circum 
stances  of  unusual  moment  had  brought  this  topic 
into  the  foreground  :  one  was  the  excitement  pro 
duced  by  the  tariff  of  1828,  "  the  tariff  of  abomi 
nations,"  in  the  planting  states,  and  especially  in 
South  Carolina,  where  it  had  assumed  the  threat 
ening  form  of  the  nullification  movement ;  and  the 
other  was  the  fact  that  the  revenue  furnished  by 
the  existing  tariff  largely  exceeded  the  current 
expenditures,  and  would,  after  the  extinguishment 
of  the  national  debt,  which  was  rapidly  going  for 
ward,  bring  on  that  bane  of  good  government  in 
a  free  country,  a  heavy  surplus  in  the  treasury, 


358  HENRY  CLAY. 

without  legitimate  employment.  A  reduction  of 
the  revenue  was  therefore  necessary,  and  lively 
discussions  were  going  on  among  the  people  as  to 
how  it  should  be  effected.  In  September  and 
October  large  popular  conventions  of  free  traders 
had  been  held.  One  of  their  principal  spokesmen 
was  the  venerable  Albert  Gallatin,  who  insisted  on 
lower  rates  of  duties  throughout.  The  protection 
ists,  fearing  lest  the  reduction  of  the  revenue 
should  injure  the  protective  system,  were  equally 
vigorous  in  their  demonstrations. 

Jackson's  views  with  regard  to  the  tariff  had 
undergone  progressive  changes.  When  first  a  can 
didate  for  the  presidency,  in  1824,  he  had  pro 
nounced  himself  substantially  a  protectionist.  In 
his  first  message  to  Congress,  in  1829,  he  recom 
mended  duties  which  would  place  our  own  manu 
factures  "  in  fair  competition  with  those  of  foreign 
countries,  while,  with  regard  to  those  of  prime 
necessity  in  time  of  war,"  we  might  even  "  advance 
a  step  beyond  that  point."  He  also  advocated  the 
distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  among  the 
states  "  according  to  the  ratio  of  representation  " 
in  Congress,  and  a  reduction  of  duties  on  articles 
"  which  cannot  come  into  competition  with  our 
own  production."  This  meant  a  protective  tariff, 
In  his  second  message,  December,  1830,  he  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  "  objects  of  national  im 
portance  alone  ought  to  be  protected  ;  of  these  the 
productions  of  our  soil,  our  mines,  and  our  work 
shops,  essential  to  national  defense,  occupy  the  first 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  359 

rank."  In  his  third  message,  December,  1831,  he 
invited  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  public  debt 
would  be  extinguished  before  the  expiration  of  his 
term,  and  that,  therefore,  "  a  modification  of  the 
tariff,  which  shall  produce  a  reduction  of  the  rev 
enue  to  the  wants  of  the  government,"  was  very 
advisable.  He  added  that,  in  justice  to  the  inter 
ests  of  the  merchant  as  well  as  the  manufacturer, 
the  reduction  should  be  prospective,  and  that  the 
duties  should  be  adjusted  writh  a  view  "  to  the 
counteraction  of  foreign  policy,  so  far  as  it  may  be 
injurious  to  our  national  interests."  This  meant 
a  revenue  tariff  with  incidental  retaliation.  He 
had  thus  arrived  at  a  sensible  plan  to  avoid  the  ac 
cumulation  of  a  surplus. 

Clay  took  the  matter  in  hand  in  the  Senate, 
or  rather  in  Congress,  for  he  held  a  meeting  of 
friends  of  protection  among  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  to  bring  about  harmony  of  action  in  the 
two  houses.  At  that  meeting  he  laid  down  the 
law  for  his  party  in  a  manner,  as  John  Quincy 
Adams  records,  courteous,  but  "exceedingly  per 
emptory  and  dogmatical."  He  recognized  the 
necessity  of  reducing  the  revenue,  but  he  would 
reduce  the  revenue  without  reducing  protective  du 
ties.  The  "American  system"  should  not  suffer. 
It  must,  therefore,  not  be  done  in  the  manner  pro 
posed  by  Jackson.  He  insisted  upon  confining  the 
reduction  to  duties  on  articles  not  coming  into 
competition  with  American  products.  He  would 
not  make  the  reductions  prospective,  to  begin  after 


360  HENRY  CLAY. 

the  public  debt  was  extinguished,  but  immediate, 
as  he  was  not  in  favor  of  a  rapid  extinguishment 
of  the  debt.  Instead  of  abolishing  protective  du 
ties  he  would  rather  reduce  the  revenue  by  making 
some  of  them  prohibitory.  He  also  insisted  upon 
"  home  valuation  "  —  i.  e.,  valuation  at  the  port  of 
entry  —  of  goods  subject  to  ad  valorem  duties,  and 
upon  reducing  the  credits  allowed  for  their  pay 
ment.  When  objection  was  made  that  this  would 
be  a  defiance  of  the  South,  of  the  President,  and 
of  the  whole  administration  party,  he  replied,  as 
Adams  reports,  that  "to  preserve,  maintain,  and 
strengthen  the  American  system,  he  would  defy 
the  South,  the  President,  and  the  devil." 

He  introduced  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  "  that 
the  existing  duties  upon  articles  imported  from 
foreign  countries,  and  not  coming  into  competition 
with  similar  articles  made  or  produced  within  the 
United  States,  ought  to  be  forthwith  abolished,  ex 
cept  the  duties  upon  wines  and  silks,  and  that  those 
ought  to  be  reduced  ;  and  that  the  Committee  on 
Finance  be  instructed  to  report  a  bill  accordingly." 
On  this  resolution,  which  led  to  a  general  debate 
upon  the  tariff,  he  made  two  speeches,  one  of 
which  took  rank  among  his  greatest  efforts.  Its 
eloquent  presentation  of  the  well  known  arguments 
in  favor  of  protection  excited  great  admiration 
at  the  time,  and  served  the  protectionists  as  a  text 
book  for  many  years.  He  declared  himself  strongly 
against  the  preservation  of  existing  duties  "in 
order  to  accumulate  a  surplus  in  the  treasury,  for 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  361 

the  purpose  of  subsequent  distribution  among  the 
several  states."  To  collect  revenue  "  from  one 
portion  of  the  people  and  give  it  to  another  "  he 
pronounced  unjust.  If  the  revenue  were  to  be 
distributed  for  use  by  the  states  in  their  public  ex 
penditure,  he  knew  of  no  principle  in  the  Constitu 
tion  "  that  authorized  the  federal  government  to 
become  such  a  collector  for  the  states,  nor  of  any 
principle  of  safety  or  propriety  which  admitted  of 
the  states  becoming  such  recipients  of  gratuity 
from  the  general  government."  He  thought,  how 
ever,  that  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public  lands 
should  be  devoted  to  internal  improvements.  He 
called  free  trade  the  "  British  colonial  system  "  in 
contradistinction  to  the  protective  "American 
system,"  two  names  which  themselves  did  the  duty 
of  arguments.  He  contrasted  the  effects  of  the 
two  systems,  using  as  an  illustration  the  seven 
years  of  distress  preceding,  and  the  seven  years  of 
prosperity  following,  the  enactment  of  the  tariff  of 
1824,  —  which  drew  from  Southern  Senators  the 
answer  that  the  picture  of  prosperity  fitted  the 
North,  but  by  no  means  the  South.  He  discussed 
the  effect  of  the  tariff  on  the  South  in  a  kindlier 
tone  than  that  in  which  he  had  spoken  in  the  meet 
ing  of  his  friends,  but  he  denounced  in  strong  terms 
the  threats  of  nullification  and  disunion.  He  said : 

"The  great  principle,  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  free  government,  is  that  the  majority  must  govern, 
from  which  there  can  be  no  appeal  but  the  sword.  That 
majority  ought  to  govern  wisely,  equitably,  moderately, 


362  HENRY  CLAY. 

and  constitutionally  ;  but  govern  it  must,  subject  only 
to  that  terrible  appeal.  If  ever  one  or  several  state?, 
being  a  minority,  can,  by  menacing  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  'succeed  in  forcing  an  abandonment  of  great 
measures  deemed  essential  to  the  interests  and  prosper 
ity  of  the  whole,  the  Union  from  that  moment  is  practi 
cally  gone.  It  may  linger  on  in  form  and  name,  but  its 
vital  spirit  has  fled  forever." 

This  seemed  to  exclude  every  thought  of  com 
promise. 

The  efforts  of  the  free  traders  to  discredit  tin 
44  American  system,"  by  resolutions,  addresses,  and 
pamphlets  against  the  tariff,  annoyed  him  greatly ; 
and  nothing  seems  to  have  stung  him  more  than  a 
calmly  argumentative  memorial  from  the  pen  of 
Albert  Gallatin.  Only  the  deepest  irritation  can 
explain  the  most  ungenerous  attack  he  made  upon 
that  venerable  statesman  in  his  great  speech.  This 
is  the  language  he  applied  to  him  :  — 

"  The  gentleman  to  whom  I  am  about  to  allude,  al 
though  long  a  resident  in  this  country,  has  no  feelings, 
no  attachments,  no  sympathies,  no  principles,  in  common 
with  our  people.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago  Pennsylvania 
took  him  to  her  bosom,  and  warmed,  and  cherished,  and 
honored  him  ;  and  how  does  he  manifest  his  gratitude  ? 
By  aiming  a  vital  blow  at  a  system  endeared  to  her  by 
a  thorough  conviction  that  it  is  indispensable  to  her 
prosperity.  He  has  filled,  at  home  and  abroad,  some 
of  the  highest  offices  under  this  government,  during 
thirty  years,  and  he  is  still  at  heart  an  alien.  The  au 
thority  of  his  name  has  been  invoked,  and  the  labors  of 
his  pen,  in  the  form  of  a  memorial  to  Congress,  ha\e 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  363 

been  engaged,  to  overthrow  the  American  system,  and 
to  substitute  the  foreign.  Go  home  to  your  native  Eu 
rope,  and  there  inculcate  upon  her  sovereigns  your 
Utopian  doctrines  of  free  trade ;  and  when  you  have 
prevailed  upon  them  to  unseal  their  ports,  and  freely 
to  admit  the  produce  of  Pennsylvania  and  other  states, 
come  back,  and  we  shall  be  prepared  to  become  converts 
and  to  adopt  your  faith." 

This  assault  was  an  astonishing  performance. 
Gallatin  had  come  to  America  a  very  young  man. 
Under  the  presidency  of  the  first  Adams  he  had 
been  intellectually  the  leader  of  the  Republicans 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  had  been  a 
member  of  that  famous  triumvirate,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Gallatin.  Jefferson  had  made  him  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury ;  and  Madison,  equally  sen 
sible  of  his  merits,  had  kept  him  in  that  most  im 
portant  position.  His  services  had  put  his  name 
in  the  first  line  of  the  great  American  finance 
ministers.  Clay  had  met  him  as  one  of  his  col 
leagues  at  Ghent,  and  he  would  hardly  have  de 
nied  that  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace  was 
owing  more  to  Gallatin's  prudence,  skill,  and  good 
temper,  than  to  his  own  efforts.  As  Minister  to 
France  under  Monroe,  Gallatin  had  added  to  his 
distinguished  services  by  his  patriotism  and  rare 
diplomatic  ability.  When  Clay,  as  Secretary  of 
State,  needed  a  man  of  peculiar  wisdom  and  trust 
worthiness  to  whom  to  confide  the  interests  of  this 
Republic,  he  had  thought  first  of  Gallatin.  It  was 
xjrallatin  whom  he  had  selected  first  for  the  most 


364  HENRY  CLAY. 

American  of  American  missions,  that  to  the  Panama 
Congress.  It  was  Gallatin  whom  he  had  sent  to 
England  after  the  retirement  of  Rufus  King,  to 
protect  American  interests  amid  uncommonly  tan 
gled  circumstances.  But  now,  suddenly,  the  same 
American  statesman,  not  present  and  unable  to 
answer,  was  denounced  by  him  in  the  Senate  as 
one  who  had  "  no  feelings,  no  sympathies,  no 
principles,  in  common  with  our  people,"  as  "  an 
alien  at  heart,"  who  should  "go  home  to  Europe;" 
and  all  this  because  Clay  found  it  troublesome  to 
answer  Gallatin's  arguments  on  the  tariff. 

Gallatin,  during  his  long  career,  had  much  to 
suffer  on  account  of  his  foreign  birth.  The  same 

O 

persons  who  had  praised  him  as  a  great  statesman 
and  a  profound  thinker,  when  he  happened  to  agree 
with  their  views  and  to  serve  their  purposes,  had 
not  unfrequently,  so  soon  as  he  expressed  opinions 
they  disliked,  denounced  him  as  an  impertinent 
foreigner  who  should  "  go  home."  He  was  accus 
tomed  to  such  treatment  from  small  politicians. 
But  to  see  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  Republic, 
and  an  old  friend  too,  descend  so  far,  could  not 
fail  to  pain  the  septuagenarian  deeply. 

But  the  irony  of  fate  furnished  a  biting  com 
mentary  on  Clay's  conduct.  Scarcely  a  year  after- 
lie  had  so  fiercely  denounced  Gallatin  as  "an  alien 
at  heart "  for  having  recommended  a  gradual  re 
duction  of  tariff  duties  to  a  level  of  about  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  Clay  himself,  as  we  shall  see,  pro« 
posed  and  carried  a  gradual  reduction  of  duties  to 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  365 

a  maximum  of  twenty  per  cent,  all  the  while  feel 
ing  himself  to  be  a  thorough  American  "at  heart." 

After  a  long  debate  Clay's  tariff  resolution  was 
adopted,  and  in  June,  1832,  a  bill  substantially  in 
accord  with  it  passed  both  houses,  known  as  the 
tariff  act  of  1832.  It  reduced  or  abolished  the 
duties  on  many  of  tlieT  unprotected  articles,  but 
left  the  protective  system  without  material  change. 
As  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  it  effected  very  little. 
The  income  of  the  government  for  the  year  was 
about  thirty  millions  ;  its  expenditures,  exclusive 
of  the  public  debt,  somewhat  over  thirteen  mil 
lions  ;  the  prospective  surplus,  after  the  payment 
of  the  debt,  more  than  sixteen  millions.  The  re 
duction  proposed  by  Clay,  according  to  his  own 
estimate,  was  not  over  seven  millions  ;  the  reduc 
tion  really  effected  by  the  new  tariff  law  scarcely 
exceeded  three  millions.  Clay  had  saved  the 
American  system  at  the  expense  of  the  very  object 
contemplated  by  the  measure.  It  was  extremely 
short-sighted  statesmanship.  The  surplus  was  as 
threatening  as  ever,  and  the  dissatisfaction  in  the 
South  grew  from  day  to  day. 

One  of  the  important  incidents  of  the  session 
was  the  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  nomina 
tion  of  Martin  Van  Buren  as  Minister  to  England. 
Van  Buren  was  one  of  Jackson's  favorites.  He 
had  stood  by  Jackson  when  other  members  of  the 
cabinet  refused  to  take  the  presidential  view  of 
Mrs.  Eaton's  virtue.  He  had  greatly  facilitated 
that  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet  which  Jackson  had 


366  HENRY   CLAY. 

much  at  heart.  When  he  ceased  to  be  Secretary 
of  State,  Jackson  gave  him  the  mission  to  Eng 
land,  holding  in  reserve  higher  honors  for  him. 
In  the  Senate,  however,  the  nomination  encoun 
tered  strong  opposition.  With  many  Senators  it 
was  a  matter  of  party  politics.  The  strongest 
reason  avowed  was  that,  as  Secretary  of  State,  Van 
Buren  had  instructed  the  American  Minister  to 
England  to  abandon  the  claim,  urged  by  the  late 
administration,  of  a  right  to  the  colonial  trade,  on 
the  express  ground  that  those  who  had  asserted 
that  right  had  been  condemned  at  the  last  presi 
dential  election  by  the  popular  judgment.  The 
opponents  of  Van  Buren  denounced  his  conduct  as 
a  wanton  humiliation  of  this  Republic,  and  a  vio 
lation  of  the  principle  that,  in  its  foreign  relations, 
the  vicissitudes  of  party  contests  should  not  be 
paraded  as  reasons  for  a  change  of  policy. 

Clay,  leading  the  opposition  to  Van  Buren, 
found  it  not  difficult  to  show  that  the  policy  fol 
lowed  by  the  administration  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  this  respect  was  substantially  identical 
with  that  of  Madison  and  Monroe,  and  that,  by 
officially  representing  that  policy  as  condemned  by 
the  people,  Van  Buren  had  cast  discredit  upon  the 
conduct  of  this  Republic  in  its  intercourse  with  a 
foreign  power.  But  he  had  still  another,  objection 
to  Van  Buren's  appointment.  He  said :  — 

"  I  believe,  upon  circumstances  which  satisfy  my  mind, 
that  to  this  gentleman  is  principally  to  be  ascribed  the 
introduction  of  the  odious  system  of  proscription  for  the 


TEE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  367 

exercise  of  the  elective  franchise  in  the  g^vv^rnment  of 
the  United  States.  I  understand  that  it  is  the  system 
upon  which  the  party  in  his  own  state,  of  which  he  is 
the  reputed  head,  constantly  acts.  It  is  a  detestable 
system,  drawn  from  the  worst  periods  of  the  Roman 
Republic  ;  and  if  it  were  to  be  perpetuated,  —  if  the 
offices,  honors,  and  dignities  of  the  people  were  to  be 
put  up  to  a  scramble,  and  to  be  decided  by  the  result  of 
every  presidential  election,  —  our  government  and  in 
stitutions  would  finally  end  in  a  despotism  as  inexorable 
as  that  at  Constantinople." 

That  Van  Buren  was  a  "  spoils  politician  "  is 
undoubtedly  true.  But  that  to  him  "  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  odious  system  "  in  the  general  govern 
ment  was  "  principally  to  be  ascribed,"  is  not 
correct.  Jackson  was  already  vigorously  at  work 
"  rewarding  his  friends  and  punishing  his  ene 
mies,"  when,  a  few  weeks  after  the  beginning  of 
the  administration,  Van  Buren  arrived  at  Wash 
ington.  Jackson  would  doubtless  have  introduced 
the  "  spoils  system,"  with  all  its  characteristic  fea 
tures,  had  Van  Buren  never  been  a  member  of  his 
Cabinet.  In  the  Senate,  however,  Van  Buren's 
friends  did  not  defend  him  on  that  ground.  It 
was  in  reply  to  Clay's  speech  that  Marcy,  speak 
ing  for  the  politicians  of  New  York,  proclaimed 
that  they  saw  "  nothing  wrong  in  the  rule  that  to 
the  victors  belong  the  spoils  of  the  enemy." 

The  rejection  of  Van  Buren's  nomination  was 
accomplished  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  Calhoun,  who  thought  that  after  such  a  de- 


368  HENRY  CLAY. 

feat  Van  Buren  would  "  never  kick  again."  Clay 
wrote  to  his  friend  Brooke  :  "  The  attempt  to  ex 
cite  public  sympathy  in  behalf  of  the  'little  ma 
gician  '  has  totally  failed  ;  and  I  sincerely  wish 
that  he  may  be  nominated  as  Vice-President.  That 
is  exactly  the  point  to  which  I  wish  to  see  matters 
brought."  Clay's  wish  was  to  be  gratified.  The 
rejection  of  Van  Buren  made  it  one  of  the  darling 
objects  of  Jackson's  heart  to  revenge  him  upon  his 
enemies.  He  employed  his  whole  power  to  secure 
Van  Buren's  election  to  the  vice-presidency  first, 
and  to  the  presidency  four  years  later.  Both  Clay 
and  Calhoun  had  yet  to  learn  what  that  power  was. 
The  dangers  to  which  a  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency  is  exposed  when  a  member  of  the  Senate, 
were  strikingly  exemplified  by  a  curious  trick  re 
sorted  to  by  Clay's  opponents.  They  managed  to 
refer  the  question  of  reducing  the  price  of  the 
public  lands  to  the  Committee  on  Manufactures,  of 
which  Clay  was  the  leading  member,  an  arrange 
ment  on  its  very  face  unnatural.  Clay  understood 
at  once  the  object  of  this  unusual  proceeding. 
"  Whatever  emanated  from  the  committee,"  he 
said,  in  a  speech  on  the  subject,  "  was  likely  to  be 
ascribed  to  me.  If  the  committee  should  propose 
a  measure  of  great  liberality  toward  the  new  states, 
the  old  states  might  complain.  If  the  measure 
should  lean  toward  the  old  states,  the  new  might 
be  dissatisfied.  And  if  it  inclined  to  neither  class, 
but  recommended  a  plan  according  to  which  there 
would  be  distributed  impartial  justice  among  all 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  369 

the  states,  it  was  far  from  certain  that  any  would 
be  pleased."  However,  he  undertook  the  task,  and 
the  result  was  his  report  on  the  public  lands,  the 
principles  of  which  became  for  many  years  a  part 
of  the  Whig  platform. 

In  1820  the  price  of  public  lands,  which  had 
been  12.00  an  acre  on  credit  and  $1.64  for  cash, 
was  fixed  at  11.25  in  cash.  The  settlement  of  the 
new  states  and  territories  had  indeed  been  rapid, 
but  various  plans  were  devised  to  accelerate  it  still 
more.  One  was,  that  the  public  lands  should  be 
given  to  the  states  ;  another,  that  they  should  be 
sold  to  the  states  at  a  price  merely  nominal ;  an 
other,  that  they  should  be  sold  to  settlers  at  grad 
uated  prices,  —  those  which  had  been  in  the  market 
a  certain  time  without  finding  a  purchaser  to  be 
considered  "  refuse "  lands,  and  to  be  sold  at 
greatly  reduced  rates.  These  propositions  were 
advanced  by  some  in  good  faith  for  the  benefit  of 
the  settlers,  but  by  others  for  speculative  ends. 
Beritoii  was  the  principal  advocate  of  cheap  lands, 
for  reasons  no  doubt  honest.  Jackson  had  never 
put  forth  any  definite  scheme  of  land  policy ;  but 
McLane,  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  recom 
mended  in  his  report  of  December,  1831,  that  the 
public  lands  should  be  turned  over  at  fair  rates  to 
the  several  states  in  which  they  were  situated,  the 
proceeds  to  be  distributed  among  all  the  states. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  subject  was  re 
ferred  to  Clay's  Committee  on  Manufactures.  He 
reported  that  the  general  government  should  not 

24 


370  HENRY  CLAY. 

give  up  its  control  of  the  public  lands  ;  that  it 
would  be  unjust  to  the  old  states  if  the  -public 
lands  were  disposed  of  exclusively  for  the  benefit 
of  the  new  states  ;  that  the  price  should  not  be  re 
duced  ;  and  that  the  proceeds  of  the  sales,  excepting 
ten  per  cent  set  apart  for  the  new  states,  should 
be  distributed  among  all  the  states  according  to 
their  federal  representative  population,  to  be  ap 
plied  to  the  promotion  of  education,  to  internal 
improvements,  or  to  the  redemption  of  any  debt 
contracted  for  internal  improvements,  or  to  the 
colonization  of  free  negroes,  as  each  state  might 
see  fit,  —  such  distribution  to  take  place  only  in 
time  of  peace,  while  in  time  of  war  the  public  land 
should  again  become  a  source  of  revenue  to  the 
general  government.  While  condemning  the  prin 
ciple  of  the  distribution  of  surplus  revenue  arising 
from  taxation,  he  defended  the  distribution  of  the 
proceeds  of  public  land  sales,  on  the  ground  that 
Congress  had  authority  to  stop  revenue  from  tax 
ation,  but  not,  without  the  exercise  of  arbitrary 
power,  the  revenue  from  the  public  lands. 

No  sooner  had  Clay  submitted  his  report  than 
it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands, 
where  the  whole  subject  should  have  gone  origi 
nally.  That  committee,  under  the  inspiration  of 
Benton,  made  a  counter-report,  setting  forth  that 
the  net  proceeds  of  the  land  sales  could  be  arrived 
at  only  by  deducting  from  the  gross  proceeds  the 
whole  cost  of  the  administration  of  the  land  de- 
partment,  inclusive  of  surveying  ;  that  such  a  de. 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  371 

duction  would  leave  little  to  be  distributed  ;  and 
that,  if  distribution  were  made  of  the  gross  pro 
ceeds,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  taking  so  much 
from  the  customs  revenue  to  divide  among  the 
states  under  the  name  of  proceeds  of  land  sales,  — 
a  scheme  against  which  Clay  himself  had  loudly 
protested  as  utterly  unwarranted  by  the  Constitu 
tion.  This  criticism  was  undoubtedly  correct,  and 
Clay  could  not  controvert  it.  The  Land  Commit 
tee  further  recommended  a  reduction  of  the  price 
of  land  from  11.25  to  §1.00  per  acre  ;  the  offering 
of  lands  remaining  unsold  for  five  years  after  hav 
ing  been  offered  once,  at  fifty  cents  per  acre ;  fifteen 
per  cent  of  the  proceeds  of  land  sales  to  be  set 
apart  for  the  benefit  of  the  new  states. 

A  debate  followed,  in  the  course  of  which  Clay 
made  some  predictions  proving  how  little  a  mind 
even  so  large  as  his,  and  so  intent  upon  grasping 
the  proportions  of  the  rapid  growth  of  this  Repub 
lic,  was  able  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  future  de 
velopments.  He  said  :  "  Long  after  we  shall  cease 
to  be  agitated  by  the  tariff,  ages  after  our  manu 
factures  shall  have  acquired  a  stability  and  perfec 
tion  which  will  enable  them  successfully  to  cope 
with  the  manufactures  of  any  other  country,  the 
public  lands  will  remain  a  subject  of  deep  and 
enduring  interest.  We  may  safely  anticipate  that 
long,  if  not  centuries,  after  the  present  day,  the 
representatives  of  our  children's  children  may  be 
deliberating  in  the  halls  of  Congress  on  laws  relat 
ing  to  the  public  lands."  He  did  not  foresee  —  as 


372  HENRY  CLAY. 

probably  nobody  did  at  that  period  —  that,  fifty-five 
years  after  he  spoke  thus,  the  protected  industries, 
having  for  twenty-five  consecutive  years  enjoyed 
an  "  American  system  "  far  more  protective  than 
his,  would  still  be  demanding  more,  and  bidding- 
fair  to  continue  doing  so  for  an  indefinite  time; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  public  lands  still 
under  the  control  of  the  government  would  have 
shrunk  to  a  comparatively  poor  remnant  in  quan 
tity  and  quality,  likely  to  be  in  private  hands  in 
another  generation,  except  perhaps  some  deserts, 
and  some  forest  reserves  in  mountainous  regions. 

His  bill  passed  the  Senate,  but  failed  to  be  acted 
upon  in  the  House  of  .Representatives.  It  did, 
however,  not  fail,  as  some  of  those  who  forced  the 
subject  upon  him  had  foreseen,  seriously  to  injure 
the  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  the  Western 
States,  as  being  an  opponent  of  "  cheap  lands." 

But  the  principal,  and  the  most  ominous,  strug 
gle  of  the  session  was  still  to  come  —  the  struggle 
concerning  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  As  we 
have  seen,  the  memorial  of  the  bank  praying  for 
a  renewal  of  its  charter  was  presented  to  Congress 
in  January.  The  committees  in  the  two  houses,  to 
which  the  memorial  was  referred,  reported  favor 
ably,  recommending  the  renewal  of  the  charter 
with  some  modifications.  It  was  well  known  that 
good  majorities  in  both  houses  were  ready  to  vote 
for  the  renewal. 

The  enemies  of  the  bank,  or  rather  President 
Jackson's  nearest  friends,  under  Benton's  leader- 


TEE   CAMPAIGN   OF  1832.  373 

ship,  then  rushed  to  the  attack.  Several  serious 
charges  against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
drawn  up  by  Benton,  were  made  in  the  House, 
with  a  demand  for  an  investigation  by  committee. 
The  majority  of  the  committee  was  composed  of 
known  opponents  of  the  bank  ;  among  the  minor 
ity,  probably  the  most  conscientiously  impartial 
man  of  all,  was  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  in  the 
first  year  of  his  distinguished  career  as  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  An  exposition 
of  the  charges  and  specifications,  and  of  the  find 
ings  of  the  committee  in  detail,  will  not  be  under 
taken  here.  The  reader  will  find  an  eminently 
clear  and  complete  presentation  of  the  case  in 
Professor  W.  G.  Simmer's  "  Andrew  Jackson." 
John  Quincy  Adams  made  a  separate  report,  which 
was  of  especial  value.  The  majority  of  the  com 
mittee  declared  that  the  bank  was  unsound,  and 
recommended  that  it  should  not  be  rechartered ; 
the  minority  said  that  it  was  safe  and  useful,  and 
ought  to  be  rechartered  ;  in  this  latter  view  John 
Quincy  Adams  substantially  concurred.  One  mem 
ber  of  the  majority  declared  that  he  had  seen 
nothing  in  the  conduct  of  the  president  and  direc 
tors  "  inconsistent  with  the  purest  honor  and  in 
tegrity  ; "  but,  being  a  warm  friend  of  General 
Jackson,  he  consented  to  sign  the  majority  report. 
Tackson  himself  honestly  believed  all  the  charges, 
whether  proved  or  disproved.  On  the  whole,  the 
result  of  the  investigation  was  regarded  as  favor 
able  to  the  bank.  The  bill  to  renew  the  charter 


374  HENRY  CLAY. 

passed  the  Senate  June  11,  1832,  by  28  to  20,  and 
the  House  July  3,  by  109  to  76.  It  looked  like  a 
great  victory  ;  it  was  only  the  prelude  to  a  crush 
ing  defeat. 

If  Jackson  had  ever  been  inclined  to  drop  his 
attack  on  the  bank,  that  inclination  vanished  the 
moment  the  National  Republican  Convention  made 
the  bank  question  an  issue  in  the  presidential  can 
vass.  From  that  hour  he  saw  in  the  bank  his 
personal  enemy  —  that  is  to  say,  an  enemy  of  the 
country,  whose  destruction  was  one  of  the  duties 
he  had  to  perform.  His  combativeness  became 
aroused  to  its  highest  energy.  But  there  was  his 
Cabinet  divided,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  hav 
ing  in  his  official  report  made  an  elaborate  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  the  bank ;  there  was  his  party 
divided,  some  of  its  leading  men  in  and  out  of 
Congress  being  warm  friends  of  the  bank ;  there 
was  his  faithful  Pennsylvania,  the  seat  of  the 
bank,  and  more  than  any  other  state  under  its  in 
fluence,  likely  to  be  turned  away  from  him  by  that 
influence  ;  there  was  Congress,  with  Democratic 
majorities  in  both  houses,  yet  both  houses  having 
emphatically  declared  for  rechartering  the  bank. 
Could  he,  in  the  face  of  these  facts,  continue  the 
fight?  He  did  not  hesitate  a  moment.  The  bill 
to  renew  the  bank  charter,  as  passed  by  both  houses, 
was  presented  to  him  on  July  4,  1832,  and  on  July 
10  came  his  veto. 

As  a  legal,  financial,  and  historical  argument, 
that  veto  presented  many  vulnerable  points;  but 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  375 

as  a  campaign  document  it  was  a  masterpiece.  No 
more  powerful  stump  speech  was  ever  delivered. 
In  ingenious  variations  of  light  and  color,  it  ex 
hibited  the  bank  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  as 
an  odious  monopoly  ;  a  monopoly  granted  to  fa 
vored  individuals  without  any  fair  equivalent ;  a 
monopoly  that  exercised  a  despotic  sway  over  the 
business  of  the  country;  a  monopoly  itself  con 
trolled  by  a  few  persons  ;  a  monopoly  giving  dan 
gerous  advantages  to  foreigners  as  stockholders  ;  a 
monopoly  the  renewal  of  which  would  put  millions 
into  the  pockets  of  a  few  men  ;  a  monopoly  in  its 
very  nature  unconstitutional,  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  notwithstanding  ;  a  monopoly  mis 
managing  its  business  to  the  detriment  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  using  its  power  for  corrupt  purposes  ;  a 
monopoly  tending  to  make  the  rich  richer  and  the 
poor  poorer. 

This  was  in  substance  Jackson's  veto  message. 
There  was  one  bitter  pill  in  it  intended  for  Clay's 
special  enjoyment.  As  to  the  constitutionality  of 
the  bank,  Jackson  simply  repeated  the  argument 
which  Clay  had  used  in  1811,  when  opposing  the 
rechartering  of  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
The  Supreme  Court,  Jackson  argued,  had  decided 
the  charter  to  be  constitutional  on  the  ground  that 
the  Constitution  gave  Congress  power  "  to  pass  all 
laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carry 
ing  these  powers  [the  granted  powers]  into  execu 
tion."  Chartering  a  bank  might  have  been  neces 
sary  and  proper  then,  but  the  President  was  sure 


376  HENRY  CLAY. 

that  it  was  not  at  all  necessary  and  proper  now. 
Just  so  Clay  had  reasoned  in  1811.  It  was  in 
overruling  the  Supreme  Court  that  Jackson  in  the 
veto  uttered  the  famous  sentence :  "  Each  public 
officer  who  takes  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitu 
tion  swears  that  he  will  support  it  as  he  under 
stands  it,  and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others." 

The  arrival  of  the  veto  in  the  Senate  was  the 
signal  for  a  grand  explosion  of  oratory.  Webster 
opened  the  debate  with  his  heaviest  artillery  of 
argument ;  Clay,  Ewing,  and  Clayton  spoke, 
thundering  magnificently  against  the  veto  and  its 
author.  With  great  force  it  was  argued  that  the 
bank  denounced  by  Jackson  as  an  unconstitutional 
and  tyrannical  monopoly  was,  in  all  essential  fea 
tures,  the  bank  established  under  Washington  and 
sanctioned  by  him  ;  that  the  privileges  it  enjoyed 
were  far  outweighed  by  the  services  it  rendered  to 
the  country  ;  that  the  holding  of  bank  stock  by 
foreigners,  who  were  excluded  from  taking  part  in 
its  management,  was  as  little  dangerous  to  the 
country  as  the  holding  by  foreigners  of  United 
States  bonds  ;  that,  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
President  Jackson,  a  law  held  to  be  constitutional 
by  the  Supreme  Court  was  not  binding  upon  him 
if  he  saw  fit  to  deny  its  constitutionality  ;  that,  if 
such  a  doctrine  prevailed,  there  was  an  end  of  all 
law  and  judicial  authority,  and  the  President  was 
an  autocrat  like  Louis  XIV. ;  and  finally,  that  the 
overthrow  of  the  bank  would  plunge  all  business 
interests  into  confusion,  and  the  whole  country 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1832.  381 

talent  of  the  country,  sought  to  make  a  campaign 
of  argument,  and  flooded  the  country  with  ad 
dresses,  pamphlets,  and  printed  campaign  matter 
of  all  kinds.  The  United  States  Bank  itself  did 
its  share  of  the  work.  But  this  kind  of  effort 
failed  to  reach  the  large  class  of  voters,  then  much 
larger  than  now,  who  were  not  "  reading  people." 
The  Jackson  party  trusted  more  to  speeches,  meet 
ings,  and  processions.  The  figure  of  the  "  old 
hero,"  grown  to  greater  proportions  than  ever 
since  he  was  engaged  in  his  struggle  against  the 
"monster  monopoly,"  exercised  a  wonderful  charm 
over  the  popular  imagination,  —  a  charm  against 
which  all  the  learned  arguments  about  the  useful 
ness  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  con 
stitutionality,  and  the  abuse  of  the  veto  power, 
availed  nothing.  Before  the  eyes  of  the  masses 
Jackson  appeared  as  a  St.  George  killing  the 
dragon,  and  as  the  invincible  champion  of  "  hard 
cash,"  of  the  "  yellow  boys,"  driving  out  "  Old 
Nick's  money  "  and  "  Clay's  rags."  Further,  the 
country  was  made  to  ring  with  the  old  "  bargain 
and  corruption  "  charge,  revived  to  do  new  service^ 
At  a  late  period  of  the  campaign  the  hopes  of 
the  Clay  party  were  highly  excited  by  the  defection 
of  the  New  York  "  Courier  and  Enquirer,"  under 
James  Watson  Webb,  and  of  several  other  news 
papers  which  turned  from  Jackson  to  Clay.  The 
National  Republicans  became  extremely  sanguine 
of  success.  So  much  the  more  terrible  was  their 
disappointment  when  the  returns  of  the  election 


382  HENRY  CLAY. 

came  in.  Of  the  288  electoral  votes  Jackson  had 
won  219,  Clay  only  49,  those  of  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky. 
Wirt,  the  candidate  of  the  Anti-Masons,  had  car 
ried  Vermont ;  South  Carolina  gave  her  vote  to 
John  Floyd  of  Virginia.  It  was  a  stunning  de 
feat.  Clay  and  his  friends  stood  wondering  how 
it  could  have  happened. 

Clay  had  committed  two  grave  blunders  in 
statesmanship,  and  one  equally  grave  in  political 
tactics. 

The  South  was  in  a  dangerous  ferment  against 
the  tariff.  The  impending  extinguishment  of  the 
public  debt  made  a  large  reduction  of  the  revenue 
necessary.  Clay  might,  therefore,  in  recognition 
of  the  necessity  for  reducing  the  revenue,  have 
proposed  a  reduction  of  tariff  duties  sufficient  to 
take  off  the  edge  of  the  Southern  discontent,  with 
out  the  least  appearance  of  yielding  to  Southern 
threats.  The  measure  he  did  propose  reduced  the 
revenue  very  little,  and,  by  maintaining  the  high 
protective  duties,  exasperated  the  South  still  more. 
This  was  the  first  blunder  in  statesmanship. 

The  other  was  that,  instead  of  advising  the 
United  States  Bank  to  keep  clear  of  politics  and 
to  accede  to  any  reasonable  modification  of  its 
charter  that  might  avert  the  opposition  of  Jackson, 
he  forced  the  fight,  and  made  the  question  of  the 
bank  a  party  question ;  thus  involving  in  the  chang 
ing  fortunes  of  party  warfare  the  most  important 
financial  institution  of  the  country,  whose  solvency, 


THE  CAMPAIGL    OF  1832.  383 

credit,  and  political  impartiality  were  of  the  high 
est  concern  to  the  business  community. 

The  blunder  in  political  tactics  was  that  he  be 
lieved  he  could  excite  the  enthusiasm  of  the  masses 
for  a  great  moneyed  corporation  in  its  contest 
against  a  popular  hero  like  Jackson,  —  a  most 
amazing  infatuation ;  and  thus  he  made  the  bank 
question  the  leading  issue  in  the  presidential  cam 
paign. 

Without  these  blunders  he  would,  probably,  not 
have  been  victorious ;  but  with  them  his  defeat  be 
came  certain  and  overwhelming. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

16Nov'62TB 


: 

jj\U  2  3  S®3 

Klim      . 

FEB  271963 

T  r>  01  A    c;n»»  Q  -R->                                       General  Library 
L(07097;iOH7'6B2                              Universtol,^if°rnia 

T.B  65318 


